High court orders CBI probe into Raju Jha murder case

Calcutta High Court Justice Rajashekhar Mantha on Wednesday ordered a CBI probe into the April 1 killing of coal baron and BJP leader Raju Jha in Shaktigarh in East Burdwan district. Justice Mantha also directed the CBI to complete the investigation within four months.
Justice Mantha also directed the West Bengal Police to immediately hand over all documents related to the case, including the case diary, to the authorities of the central agency.

Notably, Jha was to appear at the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office in New Delhi on April 3 this year for questioning in connection with the multi-crore coal smuggling scam in West Bengal.

On 1 April, when he was coming to Kolkata from his ancestral residence at Dugarpur in West Burdwan, he stopped at Saktigarh sweets place for refreshment. There, unknown miscreants shot him at close range. His colleague Britan Mukhopadhyay, who was traveling with him, also sustained injuries.

It was later found that the car in which Jha was traveling that day belonged to Abdul Latif, who is accused in the animal smuggling case worth crores of rupees in West Bengal. A special investigation team of the police started investigating the case and also arrested three people.

It was revealed that Jha has a criminal history. According to police records from the closing years of the previous Left Front rule in West Bengal before 2011, Jha's name came up in police reports after he was involved in a bicycle-theft racket in the coalfields of Raniganj area in the then Burdwan district.

According to police records, the deceased coal businessman was involved in the illegal smuggling coal transport racket long ago. As he started making good money from that illegal business, he gradually diversified his business areas into Volvo bus services and hotel businesses. All these developments took place between 2004 and 2011, during the last few years of Left Front rule.

In July 2011, a few months after Trinamool Congress came to power in West Bengal, police arrested Jha in Raniganj. Even after this he was caught by the police several times.

Jha joined the BJP ahead of the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections and was seen at several campaign events of the party for the elections.

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