The main legal point established in the judgment is the importance of a credible, free, fair, and transparent investigation, especially in politically sensitive cases, as emphasized by the principles laid down in various Supreme Court cases.

ORDER :

1. The order dated April 4, 2022 is mentioned for correction.

2. In the last line of the first page of the said order, the name 'Dipak Kandu, the cousin brother of the deceased', shall stand corrected to read as 'Dipak Kandu, the nephew of the deceased'.

3. In the second line of the second page of the said order, the names 'Md. Asik and Bhim Tewari' shall stand corrected to read as 'Md. Asik and Naren Kandu'.

4. In view of the large number of other typographical errors in the said order, the following order shall replace the order dated April 4, 2022. The reasoning and the result remain same.

5. A second report is received from the Superintendent of Police. Details of further steps taken since 1st of April, 2022 have been set out in the report. The Case Diary is also produced today.

6. It appears that there is some progress in the investigation. It transpires from the Case Diary and the report, that as on date, four persons have been arrested. One Kolebar Singh is stated to have been arrested in Jharkhand. He was the person accused of having fired the weapon at the victim. The principal accused Dipak Kandu, the nephew of the deceased, has been arrested. Two other accused, Md. Asik and Naren Kandu have also been arrested. The abovementioned four persons named in the complaint made by the petitioner no.1 have given statements under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

7. The investigation is indeed progressing. As of now it cannot be said that the investigation at the hands of the State has been slow. However there are some aspects of the investigation that have stuck out to this Court as noticeably concerning.

8. Kolebar Singh is stated to have been arrested in Jharkhand. The transit remand of the persons from the appropriate Court in Jharkhand appears to have been omitted in the Case Diary. He is, however, in Police custody, remanded by the appropriate Court in Purulia. Further, the photography at the place of occurrence has been done two days after the incident i.e. on 15th of March, 2022. It appears to this Court that the same may have been done after the intervention of the C.I.D., West Bengal.

9. It also appears that the person who is stated by the complainant to have facilitated the crime, i.e., the Inspector-in-Charge of the Jhalda Police Station, Sanjib Ghosh, has not been taken into custody as yet, and is still performing his official duties.

10. It is also surprising to note that the mobile phone of the said Sanjib Ghosh has not been seized till date. Vital data may have been lost.

11. There is no dispute about the principal motive behind the killing. The political rivalry between the deceased and the said Dipak Kandu was commonly known. Dipak had contested on the ruling political party ticket against the deceased, who was an INC candidate, and had lost to the latter. The two political parties had won five seats each in the Jhalda Municipality Election and two other seats were won by independent candidates. The death of the Tapan Kandu would have clearly tilted the balance of the control of power of the Jhalda Municipality Board, in favour of the Ruling Party.

12. It may not be out of place to refer to two additional facts brought to this Court's notice by the petitioner. The first being that in the complaint dated 14th March, 2022, the writ petitioner no.1 had indicated the role played by the Inspector-in-Charge, Sanjib Ghosh, in trying to woo over the deceased to join the rival political party. It is stated that Sanjib Ghosh had acted on somebody else's behalf. It is also stated that not only were requests made, but at times, there were threats issued. The petitioners claimed to have audio recordings of such threats, demands or requests made by the said Inspector-in-Charge.

13. The learned Advocate General has, however, said that some audio recordings are in the custody of the Investigating Officer.

14. The second noticeable fact is that the Superintendent of Police of Purulia District, Mr. S. Selvamurugan