The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday took suo motu cognisance of the violence in Birbhum district of West Bengal, in which 8 persons were killed allegedly in retaliation to the murder of local All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Bhadu Sheikh. .The Court is likely to hear at 2 pm today, the suo motu case along with certain public interest litigation petitions seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the incident..Sheikh, a TMC leader and upa pradhan of Boroshal gram panchayat, was killed by some miscreants on March 21 at around 8:30 pm.This led to a violent backlash in which around 10 to 12 houses were torched and at least 8 persons were burnt alive, Times Now reported..The State government has responded by constituting a special investigation team (SIT). One of the petitions before the High Court stated that the SIT has already given many contradictory statements on the issue and that it will only act as a "slave of the ruling party". "The SIT will leave no stone unturned to cover up the issue," the petition stated.All media reports say that the violence took place at the instance of hooligans associated with the TMC, the plea added.
