NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday registered 12 cases and sent five investigation teams to West Bengal’s Malda district to probe the alleged detention of judicial officers by a mob, three days after the Supreme Court reprimanded the state government over the incident.
The federal probing agency, acting on a Supreme Court directive, has re-registered seven FIRs from Mothabari Police Station and five from Kalichak Police Station in Malda district.
“Multiple investigation teams have reached the spot for a thorough inquiry into the April 1 incidents, where locals gheraoed judicial officers deputed for SIR work," a senior NIA official said.
The agency said it was acting in compliance with a Supreme Court order dated April 8 relating to the safety of judicial officers during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Malda and related law and order incidents.
On Monday, a bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant, with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, had directed the NIA to carry out a probe into the matter, even though the offences fell outside the agency’s usual jurisdiction.
The bench sharply criticised West Bengal Chief Secretary Dushyant Nariala and Director General of Police Siddh Nath Gupta over what it called a law and order breakdown on April 1, when judicial officers were held hostage for hours and their vehicles attacked during their rescue.
The bench directed the West Bengal Police to hand over all 26 arrested suspects, along with case records, to the NIA, citing a lack of confidence in the police probe into the matter. It described the attack as "well planned and motivated" and ordered the agency to interrogate the alleged masterminds behind the incident.
The key suspects, including Mofakerrul Islam and Maulana Muhammad Shahjahan Ali Qadri, are already in custody.
The court also noted that vehicles carrying the judicial officers were attacked with stones and sticks even after they were rescued.
Around 700 judicial officers from West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand are currently deployed for the SIR exercise, which involves processing more than six million objections to electoral rolls across the state.