Police summon NIA officer in Bhupatinagar attack case

KOLKATA: West Bengal Police on Tuesday issued summons to the NIA officer who was injured in the alleged attack during the central probe agency’s raid in Purba Medinipur district last week, to appear before the investigating officer of the Bhupatinagar police station on April 11, an official said.

The Bhupatinagar police station investigating officer has also asked the NIA to bring the vehicle which was damaged allegedly during the attack on Saturday, stating that they want to conduct a forensic test of it, he said.

The police officer has also summoned three villagers from Bhupatinagar for questioning in connection to the attack on NIA officers when they went to arrest the two main conspirators in connection with a blast that took place in 2022 at Bhupatinagar in Purba Medinipur district in which three persons were killed.

“The NIA officer has been asked to appear before our officer on April 11. We have also asked them to send the vehicle which was damaged during the attack. We plan to conduct a forensic test on it,” he told PTI.

The villagers have been asked to appear in two to three days, the officer said.

A team of the NIA was allegedly attacked by a mob on Saturday when it went to arrest two main suspects in the 2022 blast case in West Bengal’s Purba Medinipur district, sparking a political slugfest with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accusing the investigators of assaulting villagers.

One NIA officer was injured and a vehicle was damaged in the attack on Saturday.

The attack on the NIA team happened around three months after an attack on officials of another federal agency, the Enforcement Directorate, on January 5 when its sleuths attempted to arrest a now-expelled member of Banerjee’s party. That case snowballed into one of the biggest political controversies ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.