West Bengal: Locals attack NIA vehicle as sleuths arrest two in 2022 bomb blast case

A NIA officer was injured when the arrest of two key suspects in a bomb blast which killed three people in West Bengal in December 2022 sparked mob violence in East Midnapore district on Saturday (April 6).

The NIA said it achieved a major breakthrough by arresting Balai Charan Maity and Manobrata Jana following extensive searches at five locations including Jana’s house.

However, when the NIA team tried to proceed towards a police station with the two arrested men, a crowd of local residents turned violent and attacked the officers, inflicting minor injuries on one of them. One of the NIA’s vehicles was also damaged in the melee.

Jana and Maity were said to have conspired to manufacture and explode crude bombs to spread terror.

The federal agency has also lodged a police complaint in this regard. “Locals gheraoed the vehicle and pelted stones at it. The NIA has said one of its officers was also injured,” a senior police official said.

Mamata slams NIA

Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday blamed NIA officials of attacking villagers at Bhupatinagar in East Midnapore district and not the other way round.

She claimed that the probe agency team had gone to the houses of villagers in the early hours over an incident of "bursting of crackers in 2022". Addressing an election rally in South Dinajpur district’s Balurghat, she said, “The attack was not carried out by women of Bhupatinagar, it was by the NIA.”

"Will the women sit back if they are attacked?" she said, adding that they had only protested after NIA officials went to some of their houses over the December 2022 incident.

The Trinamool Congress chief accused the BJP government at the Centre of trying to use the central agencies to win the elections.

"We want the Election Commission to work impartially, not turn into a BJP-run commission," she said. Questioning transfer of state's police officers by the EC, she asked why the officers of ED, CBI and I-T have not been changed. "NIA, CBI are brothers of BJP; the ED and IT are funding boxes of BJP," Banerjee said.

"If you (BJP) have the power, win the election by fighting in a democratic manner. Don't arrest my booth-level workers and election agents," she said at the rally.

The bombing

Three persons were killed in the December 2022 explosion in the house of a Rajkumar Manna in village Naruabilla in East Medinipur.

Manna was seriously injured in the blast along with two others – Biswajit Gayen and Buddhadeb Manna. All three succumbed to injures.

The NIA took over the case on June 4, 2023, leading to Saturday’s arrests of Jana and Maity, who were said to have actively participated in the conspiracy to make crude bombs.

(With agency inputs)