NIA arrests two blast accused amid attack on its officers
NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday said it has arrested two key conspirators as part of its probe into the 2022 blast case amid an attack on its team by a crowd in East Medinipur district of West Bengal.
In a statement the federal anti-terror agency said its officer was injured and a vehicle belonging to the probe team was damaged in the attack.
“In a major breakthrough in West Bengal’s Bhupatinagar blast case, in which three persons were killed in December 2022, the NIA arrested two key conspirators amid stiff resistance from an unruly crowd in the state’s East Medinipur district,” a senior official in the headquarters said.
The duo — Balai Charan Maity and Manobrata Jana — were arrested after extensive searches at five locations, including the house of Jana, where locals tried to obstruct the NIA raiding team, the official said, adding that a member of the agency’s raiding team suffered minor injury and the official vehicle was also damaged.
Sources in the NIA said when the duo was summoned for questioning they did not appear before the agency. Following this, the probe agency sleuths picked them up to take them in for questioning on Saturday.
En route, agitated villagers surrounded the NIA vehicle demanding that the two be let out of the car. As the violence escalated, the windows of the NIA vehicle were smashed, leading to two officials sustaining minor injuries, the sources said.
Reacting to the alleged attack on NIA officials in Bhupatinagar, CM Mamata Banerjee is reported to have said, “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? Why 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.”
While the TMC said that the incident could have been avoided if the local administration had been alerted, the BJP on its part questioned the law and order situation in the state.
“It is due to Mamata Banerjee’s repeated instigation that even after the ED Officials were attacked at Sandeshkhali, the TMC Leaders could still dare to attack the @NIA_India Officers. She recently spoke ill about the NIA at the political event at Mathabhanga, in the Cooch Behar district,” Suvendu Adhikari, leader of Opposition in West Bengal assembly, said in a post on X.
The 2022 Bhupatinagar blast took place in Nairabila village, killing TMC booth president Rajkumar Manna, his brother Devkumar Manna and Biswajit Gayen.