The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the West
Bengal government to submit a report on the status of investigation against BJP
leaders Kailash Vijayvargiya, Arjun Singh and others in criminal cases lodged
against them in the state.
A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan
noted that the appeals were filed in 2020 and directed the state to file a
comprehensive affidavit within a month and inform it about the stage of probe
in the matter.
The top court also extended their interim protection
till July 23, the next date of hearing.
"You want investigation to be transferred to
CBI. Are you sure CBI will carry out a fair investigation?" the bench
asked.
The petitions sought the transfer of investigation
in FIRs registered at multiple police stations in West Bengal.
"The petitions are of year 2020. This court had
earlier only protected the petitioners for coercive action but no stay was
granted. Therefore, we direct the state of West Bengal to file a comprehensive
affidavit stating out stages of investigation in each case," the bench
said.
Vijayvargiya, Arjun Singh, Sourav Singh, Pawan Kumar
Singh had claimed being framed to prevent them from entering the state ahead of
assembly elections in 2021.
TMC leader Mukul Roy, who was in BJP at that time,
is also a petitioner in the case.
Arjun Singh pointed out there were 64 criminal cases
lodged against him in 2019 relating to petty offences of breaking public order
and causing injury.
Pawan Singh, son of Arjun Singh, said he was a sitting MLA and nine
cases were lodged against him after he deserted the TMC.