CBI withdraws Supreme Court pleas to transfer West Bengal violence trials

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has withdrawn approximately 20 petitions from the Supreme Court that sought to move trials related to the 2021 West Bengal post-poll violence to courts outside the state. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed a bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant that the agency was withdrawing the requests due to “changed circumstances.”

The petitions were originally filed in 2023 during the Trinamool Congress administration, with the CBI citing witness intimidation, threats to prosecution lawyers, and an environment that prevented fair trials. Following the defeat of the Banerjee-led government by the BJP in recent Assembly elections, the agency determined the previous reasons for the transfer no longer applied.

Concurrently, the West Bengal Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is expanding its local probe. The CID has initiated 458 new inquiries, registered 181 fresh FIRs, and reopened 59 previously closed matters related to the 2021 unrest, which involved allegations of assault, intimidation, and displacement.