NIA team attacked in West Bengal’s East Medinipur during raid, officer injured

During a raid conducted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the East Medinipur district of West Bengal on Saturday (Apr 6), officers of the agency were attacked by locals and one of them sustained injuries.

This tumultuous turn of events took place during the operation when the officers sought to arrest the suspects involved in the 2022 Bhupatinagar bomb blast case.

The explosion at the time killed three individuals in Naruabilla village. It is pertinent to note that initially the case was investigated by the West Bengal Police but was later transferred to the NIA.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

The transfer of the case to NIA took place following a petition urging the inclusion of relevant sections of the Explosive Substances Act, which was earlier not initiated. The plea was filed in the Calcutta High Court.

NIA nabbed Manobrata Jana and Balai Charan Maity who were allegedly involved in a conspiracy to manufacture and detonate crude bombs.

When the NIA team reached to arrest the two, they encountered resistance from locals and women of the region leading to one NIA officer sustaining injuries.

The arrest came after extensive searches at five different locations. The search was also carried out at Jana's residence.

When the team was scurrying through the area, the officialsfaced unexpected and "stiff resistance" from an "unruly" mob. Later, the situation rapidly deteriorated as the mob assaulted NIA officers.

The people also caused damage to property and attacked a vehicle's windscreen.

Also Read |Delhi excise policy case: No relief for Manish Sisodia as his judicial custody gets extended till April 18

The violentattack by the locals led the NIA to file a complaint at the local police station regarding the incident.

Also Read |Maldives FM thanks EAM, Indian government for allowing export of essential commodities

Watch |India: Rajnath Singh says, 'will enter home of anti-India elements & kill them'

The situation escalated further as a substantial police contingent was dispatched to the scene to restore order. One video has gained much attention where women could be seen sitting on the floor with bamboo sticks in their hands and engaging in a verbal spat with the officials.

The agency came under attack when the accused involved in the 2022 blast case were nabbed and the officials were on their way back to Kolkata, the capital city of West Bengal.

West Bengal CM

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee criticised the NIA's actions and alleged that the central agencies are biased towards the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

"Why did they raid at midnight? Did they have police permission? Locals reacted in the way they would have if any other stranger had visited the place at midnight. Why are they arresting people right before the elections? What does the BJP think, that they will arrest every booth agent? What right does NIA have? They are doing all these to support the BJP. We call upon the entire world to fight against this BJP's dirty politics,"questioned Banerjee.

"We want the Election Commission to work impartially, not turn into a BJP-run commission," she added.

Earlier, in a similar stance, three Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers sustained injuries when a mob vandalised their vehicles during a raid on the residence of TMC (Trinamool Congress) leader Shahjahan Sheikh.

(With inputs from agencies)