This is not the first time a probing agency has been targeted in West Bengal. It earlier happened on January 5th of this year when the Enforcement Director team went to West Bengal for a raid in Sandeshkhali, where TMC leader Seikh Shahjahan was accused of a ration distribution scam.
The National Investigation Agency, aka NIA’s two officers, went to investigate the Bhupatinagar Blast in East Midnapore, West Bengal, where they got injured as the probing team targeted some unknown sinners. On Friday night, the NIA team went to arrest one person along with CAPF who was connected with Bhupatinagar Blast, and then they were attacked by unknown sinners who were attacking them with stones.
This incident damaged the glass panes of NIA vehicles and minorly injured two officers. However, the probing agency managed to arrest the two main culprits in the Bhupatinagar blast case. This took place three months after the attack by Sandeshkhali on Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials.
NIA officers faced protests in Sandeshkhali when they were doing an investigation that had a connection with the Bhupatinagar blast case. People tried to stop the NIA team from arresting the accused. The investigating agency stated that in December 2022, three people were killed in a major breakthrough in the Bhupatinagar blast case. They have arrested the two culprits amid resistance from a cooperative crowd in the state’s East Medinipore district.
A NIA team member suffered a minor injury, and the agency’s official vehicle was also damaged when some miscreants in the crowd assaulted them. The uncooperative crowd tried to stop the NIA team and its security members from moving towards the Bhupatinagar police station to complete the arrest. NIA has informed us that they lodged a complaint with the locals at the local police station regarding this.
West Bengal’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee talked about this incident in a media report where she stated, 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 rights does the NIA have? They are doing all this to support the BJP. We call upon the entire world to fight against the BJP’s dirty politics.
Mamata further accused the NIA team, saying that the team attacked women in Bhupatinagar, not the other way around. Mamata Banarjee added more, where she stated that they want the Election Commission to work impartially, not turn into a BJP-run commission.
