Snubbed CID acts pricey

Calcutta, Oct. 20: The CBI team received a frosty reception today from the CID, which would not share evidence such as Rizwanur Rahman’s call details and video recordings of witness statements.

Smarting at the case being handed over to the central agency and the high court terming its probe illegal, CID officials told The Telegraph the CBI should do its own legwork.

The day the high court had ordered the CBI probe, former chief minister Jyoti Basu had said the state would cooperate with the central agency.

CBI sources said they had asked for the call statement of Rizwanur’s cellphone but the state sleuths claimed they “did not have it at this moment” though the document is a cornerstone of the report the CID has handed the state government.

“This is a most important document. It can help us identify the persons Rizwanur had spoken to minutes before his death,” a CBI official said. “The tower locations mentioned in the call statement can help us trace Rizwanur’s movements on the day of his death.”

The state agency is also peeved that the CBI started a murder case yesterday before beginning its investigations. The CID report has concluded it was a suicide, drawing on the autopsy surgeon’s final opinion and circumstantial evidence.

“We asked the CBI officials on what basis they had started the murder case without even visiting the spot where the body was found (the CBI visited it today),” a CID official said.

CBI officials, however, have said they would explore all three angles — murder, suicide and accident.

The state agency handed over copies of the case diary recorded by the Government Railway Police, Dum Dum, the post-mortem and viscera reports, the autopsy surgeon’s final opinion, Rizwanur’s clothes, a sum of Rs 25 found in his trouser pockets and his cellphone.

The CBI was also given the train and air tickets the Todis had used during their south India trip after Priyanka returned to her parents on September 8. “Unfortunately, we were not given some other documents, such as the call details, that we were looking for,” a CBI official said.

“They are investigating the case independently,” a CID official said, “so let them do some legwork.”

“The court has ruled our probe illegal. So how can we reveal our findings to them?” another official said.

They, however, insisted the CID was cooperating with the central sleuths. “We have given them the articles we had collected during our probe.”