Calcutta High Court on Thursday ordered that Jagaddhatri Puja organisers would not be allowed to take out traditional processions to immerse idols in Krishnagar and upheld an earlier decision of the state government owing to Covid safety protocols.

The order was given after a Jagaddhatri Puja committee in Krishnagar moved court on Thursday seeking permission for immersion processions in the traditional way.

The order comes a day after Sakibul Sheikh, 7, of Malda died inside an ambulance near Krishnagar on way to Calcutta’s SSKM Hospital. The ambulance allegedly was held up for hours by Jagaddhatri Puja organisers who blocked NH12 to demand a nod for traditional immersion processions.

A division bench headed by Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava issued the order after the advocate general S.N. Mukherjee informed the bench of the sequence of events that led to Sakibul’s death. The Chief Justice said the high court in its order before Durga Puja had issued a ban on immersion processions for Durga Puja, Kali Puja, Chhath and Jagaddhatri Puja owing to Covid-19 prevalent in Bengal

In a related development, police have started a probe into Sakibul’s death on the basis of three separate complaints filed with Krishnagar police.

Initially, the police had on Wednesday begun a probe into the death on suo motu basis and had arrested five Puja organisers involved in the NH12 blockade.

Later, two more cases were started on the basis of a complaint by Subhodh Ghosh, whose bus had been damaged during the blockade, and another one filed by Sakibul’s father. CCTV footage is being scanned to trace those involved in the blockade.