CID can inquire, not investigate

The High Court yesterday turned down a government petition seeking orders not to involve the Criminal Investigation Department of police in the investigation into the Narayanganj seven-murder incident.
However, the bench of Justice Md Rezaul Haque and Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore slightly modified its earlier order saying that the CID will conduct inquiry into the gruesome abduction and murder of seven people in April this year.

The same bench on May 5 had said, “In addition to the ongoing investigation, the Criminal Investigation Department of police shall also separately investigate the case”.
According to legal experts, any organisation or authority can carry out inquiry into any incident even if no case is filed in the connection. But an investigation is carried out by a government-appointed agency only after a case has been filed and only that agency can submit the charge sheet in that case.
Different agencies were asked to run inquiry into the seven-murder incident only to help the Detective Branch of Police, the investigation agency of the two cases filed in connection with the incident, they believe.
While handing down the order, the HC bench also said the regular investigation [by the DB] will continue in its own course at the same time.
The CID and other agencies will collect evidence and information and then will submit their reports to this court. The court will then send the reports to the investigation officer and the trial court dealing with the case so that they can determine whether further investigation into the case is required, the HC said.
Rejecting the government's plea, the HC bench said that the petition did not mention any specific authorities of the government which had instructed the office of the attorney general (AG) to move the petition before it.
In the petition submitted on Wednesday, the AG office argued that two agencies cannot conduct investigation simultaneously in a case as per the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
The petition came more than two months after Narayanganj ward councillor Nazrul Islam, senior lawyer Chandan Sarker and five others were abducted and killed allegedly by Rab men for money.
Following yesterday's HC order, AG Mahbubey Alam told The Daily Star that the order means the CID can conduct inquiry into the incident but cannot press any charge sheet in the case to the trial court. It is the DB that will submit the charge sheet.
The AG also said that his office will move the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court seeking cancellation of yesterday's HC order, adding that complications were arising as two separate agencies were conducting investigation into the same cases.
Meanwhile, the HC bench yesterday received progress reports from four government agencies over the seven-murder incident.
The government-formed seven-member probe committee, the inspector general of police (IGP), Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and the CID submitted the reports to the HC through the AG office.
The AG told the court that the seven-member committee has so far recorded statements of 350 people, including three dismissed Rab officials in connection with the incident.
The CID in its report said 14 people have been arrested in connection with this incident. Three dismissed Rab officials and three witnesses have given statements to the magistrate and the CID is trying to collect the copies of the confessional statements.
The Rab report said that they have recorded statements of 80 people, including some Rab officials and staff, to examine whether any of them were involved in the incident.
The IGP said in his report that his office has taken necessary measures to ensure safety and security of the victims' families and the witnesses.
The HC is yet to fix any date to pass further order in this regard.