Calcutta, Jan. 4: The government today ordered a police probe into the power failure at a programme attended by the chief minister, possibly to justify its inquiry into the recent lights fiasco at Eden Gardens.

Calcutta University’s Centenary Hall had plunged into darkness during a programme organised by the CPM mouthpiece Ganashakti.

For eight minutes during CPM state chief Biman Bose’s speech, a solitary lamp had glowed in the hall, with over 700 people in the seats and the chief minister on the dais.

Hours after chief secretary A.M. Chakrabarti announced today’s probe, he got a report from city police chief G.M. Chakrabarti. “It says two bulbs... had gone off for 40 seconds but the dais was at no point completely dark. I’ve asked CESC to file another report,” the chief secretary said later.

The government had been accused of trying to interfere in the affairs of the state cricket association when it cited crowd security to justify the police probe at the Eden. Today’s probe followed questions about whether the same yardstick should be used everywhere.