Police report suggests Ram Navami clash was pre-planned: Calcutta HC

A West Bengal Police report on clashes around Ram Navami in the state prima facie suggested that the violence was pre-planned, the Calcutta high court said on Monday, adding that a central agency might be better suited to probe the events that have ratcheted up communal tensions and stoked a political row.

The high court's comments came on a petition by the opposition BJP for a federal probe into the violence that roiled three districts and left several people injured. A two-judge bench of the court, comprising acting chief justice TS Sivagnanam and justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, reserved its order on the plea.

"The Howrah Police commissioner has filed a 54-page report, including annexures... Your (state's) reports prima facie show these (violence) were all preplanned. There are allegations of stones being hurled from rooftops. Obviously it is not possible for anyone to take stones up to the rooftop within 10 to 15 minutes," the bench told senior advocate general SN Mookherjee who opposed the plea on the grounds that the state police were already probing the case.