Justice Subhra Ghosh of Calcutta High Court on Wednesday allowed customs officer Pradeep Kumar to file a petition seeking a probe by a court-appointed special investigation team into the attack on his apartment in a housing society on the city’s southern fringes last week.

Kumar’s lawyer told the court that his client was “not satisfied” with the progress of the police investigation so far and therefore requested a court-monitored inquiry.

The state’s counsel, Swapan Mukherjee, said the police were investigating both cases — one filed by Kumar against the mob that attacked him and the other lodged by an autorickshaw driver against Kumar.

Kumar, an inspector in the customs and GST department, was assaulted by a mob that entered the housing complex, reached his apartment on the fourth floor of Tower 11, and broke open the collapsible gate at his door. He was beaten up and suffered multiple injuries.

Kumar had alleged that the police failed to respond promptly despite repeated distress calls while his apartment was under attack.

The incident reportedly escalated from a relatively minor traffic altercation between Kumar and an autorickshaw driver outside the housing society on Thursday evening, which later culminated in the attack on Kumar’s residence at night.

Following Kumar’s complaint, the police initially filed a case against “unknown persons” and later identified five men allegedly involved using CCTV footage and intelligence inputs.

Meanwhile, the autorickshaw driver also lodged a complaint against Kumar, accusing him of molesting his
mother during the initial
scuffle outside the housing complex.

The police said that investigations into both allegations were underway.

As of Wednesday, Kumar had not been examined by the police, sources said.

Text messages and phone calls to Kumar from this newspaper went unanswered on Wednesday.