Guwahati, Aug. 5: The Congress will soon move Gauhati High Court with a plea to monitor the proposed CBI probe into the murder of Lafiqul Islam Ahmed, president of the All BTAD Minority Students' Union (ABMSU), fearing political interference in the investigation.
"Since the CBI has been used earlier as a political tool by the BJP government at the Centre to tame its opponents in Bengal and Tripura in the Saradha scam, we have serious doubts whether the actual culprit in Lafiqul's murder will be identified. His family and various organisations have alleged that a few police officers may be involved in the cattle smuggling racket which Lafiqul was trying to expose. If the assailants are backed by the people in power, they will use the CBI to their advantage. Hence, we decided to file a petition in the high court seeking its intervention and monitor the CBI investigation," former industry minister and PCC vice-president Pradyut Bordoloi told reporters here today.
Bordoloi said Kushal Sarma, president of the Congress's Guwahati unit, will file a public interest litigation in the high court soon.
Dispur had yesterday said that it had written to the Centre for a CBI inquiry into Lafiqul's death following a demand by his family, ABMSU and other organisations.
Islam, 33, was shot dead by two motorcycle-borne assailants on Tuesday at Titaguri market in Kokrajhar district, 10km from his home at Salakati village. Another person was injured in the attack.
ABMSU leaders suspect the involvement of cattle smugglers as Lafiqul had tried to expose the racket in Kokrajhar and Dhubri districts. They also demanded removal of Kokrajhar superintendent of police Rajen Singh, alleging that a few police officers were hand-in-glove with the cattle smugglers.
"Why is the SP still there? He will try to destroy evidence or influence the witnesses till the CBI takes over the case," Bordoloi said.
"We had seen how the CBI searched the house of education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in connection with the Saradha scam before he joined the BJP in 2015. But nothing was done after he became a minister in the BJP-led government. So the CBI inquiry should be conducted under the high court's supervision for an impartial investigation," he said.
