NIA official suffers minor injuries in attack by locals on team at West Bengal’s Bhupatinagar
A National Investigation Agency (NIA) official was injured when an NIA team, conducting an earlymorning raid on Saturday in connection with a bomb blast case, was attacked by locals in West Bengal’s Bhupatinagar area in East Medinipur district.
The team was in the area in connection with the investigation into the December 2022 Bhupatinagar blast case in which crude bombs exploded, killing three persons. Officials today arrested two key conspirators “amid stiff resistance from an unruly crowd in the State’s East Medinipur district”, the agency said.
“The duo, Balai Charan Maity and Manobrata Jana, were arrested after extensive searches at five locations, including the house of Jana, where a crowd of local residents tried to obstruct the NIA team,” the NIA said in a press release.
“One NIA team member suffered minor injury and the agency’s official vehicle was also damaged as some miscreants in the crowd assaulted them. The aggressive crowd tried to stop the NIA team and its security component from moving towards Bhupatinagar police station to complete the arrest formalities,” it added.
The NIA produced the two arrested men in a Kolkata court. The development that came days ahead of the Lok Sabha polls has become a major talking point in the State’s politics.
The Purba Medinipur police administration said a request from the NIA to provide support for the investigation was received on Saturday morning. But before the police could provide any assistance, the NIA team visited the area with central armed police personnel, the police said.
The NIA investigation into the blast at the house of a local Trinamool Congress leader has evoked strong political reactions from the State’s ruling dispensation. The NIA had issued notices to eight persons to appear before the agency, but none of them turned up.
‘Political bias’
Speaking on the attack on the NIA team, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said: “What happens when people in a village see a stranger in the middle of the night? That is what happened [at Bhupatinagar]... The police were not informed... All this is being done to help the BJP in the polls.” Earlier, the Trinamool Congress had written to the Election Commission of India alleging that the NIA investigation ahead of Lok Sabha polls had a political bias. The party alleged that the BJP leaders were in touch with NIA officials.