KOLKATA: Two days after the gherao of seven judicial officers in Malda’s Kaliachak BDO II office in West Bengal, the state police arrested advocate Mofakkarul Islam, an alleged mastermind behind the incident.
Police nabbed Islam and his associate from Bagdogra airport in north Bengal on Friday. Islam was trying to flee to Bengaluru.
Police said three cases have been registered against him at Kaliachak police station for allegedly instigating locals in three different places through speeches on Wednesday, following which the gherao took place.
While speaking to reporters today, Additional Director General (ADG) of police (north Bengal) K Jayaraman said Mofakkarul Islam, a native of Itahar in North Dinajpur district, is currently residing in Kolkata.
"We started tracking Mofakkarul Islam after the incident. With the help of the West Bengal Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and Siliguri Police, we nabbed him and his associate from Bagdogra airport. Three cases were lodged against him for instigating locals in three different places," he said.
He added that a total of 19 cases have been lodged in connection with the incident.
Mofakkarul Islam practised law in the Raiganj district court before moving to the Calcutta High Court.
In the 2021 Assembly elections, Mofakkarul contested the polls as the nominee of Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM from Itahar constituency, where he secured only 831 votes.
With the latest arrests, the number of people held in connection with the incident has risen to 35, including an Indian Secular Front (ISF) candidate.
The ISF candidate, Moulana Shahjahan Ali, contesting from Mothabari assembly constituency in Malda district, and 17 others, were arrested on Thursday on charges of their alleged link to the gherao.
Ali claimed that he had no involvement with the Kaliachak incident.
“I was not there on the spot during the trouble. Police arrested me when I was coming back after seeing a musical show in my locality. I turned into a victim of conspiracy as I am an ISF candidate,” he told reporters when he was produced before the court in Malda on Thursday.
The incident took place in protests against the exclusion of voters from supplementary lists of electoral rolls.
Following directives of the Supreme Court, judicial officers were engaged to verify documents of 60 lakh voters marked as ‘under adjudication’ by the Election Commission of India (ECI) across West Bengal.
Expressing serious concern with violence in Kaliachak and in some other areas in Malda, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Thursday held an emergency meeting through video conferencing with the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal, State Chief Secretary Dushyant Nariala, Home Secretary, Director General of Police and Commissioner of police, Kolkata, District Magistrates and Superintendents of police of districts to take stock of the situation ahead of assembly elections.