A DAY after the attack on an NIA team at Bhupatinagar in Purba Medinipur district while carrying out a probe in connection with a blast case, NIA has registered a case against the attackers at the Bhupatinagar police station while East Midnapore Police have registered an FIR against the NIA team and CRPF officials on the complaint of a woman. The woman, wife of one of the two arrested men for the attack, alleged that NIA officials molested her by breaking the doors of their houses late at night. The National Investigation Agency on Saturday arrested two key conspirators, local Trinamool Congress leaders - Balai Charan Maity and Manobrata Jana - in a 2022 blast case in West Bengal’s East Midnapore district in which three persons were killed. Jana’s wife Moni Jana lodged her complaint with Bhupatinagar police station alleging that NIA officers also vandalised properties in her residence during their raid on Saturday morning, he said.

 

“We have registered an FIR after receiving a complaint from a woman alleging assault by NIA officers. We are looking into the complaint,” the police officer told PTI. IPC Section 354 (for assaulting any woman, with an intention to outrage her modesty) was attached to the complaint, the police officer added. SP Soumyadeep Bhattacharya said, “An NIA team had reached Bhupatinagar police station and we (police) fully cooperated with them. Earlier, another NIA team had come and there were reports of some arguments with them. During the incident, a vehicle was vandalised before the police arrived and one person was also reported to be injured. A FIR has been registered and an investigation is going on. Efforts for arrest are underway.”

 

A team of the NIA was allegedly attacked by a mob on Saturday when it went to arrest two main suspects in the 2022 blast case in Purba Medinipur district, sparking a political slugfest with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accusing the investigators of assaulting the villagers. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) said one of its officers was injured and a vehicle was damaged in the attack that happened in Bhupatinagar. The attack on the NIA team evoked memories of January 5 when a team of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was attacked by a mob in North 24 Parganas district’s Sandeshkhali during a search at the house of TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh in connection with alleged irregularities in the public distribution system.