Mamata slams NIA over Malda gherao, alleges harassment of locals while culprits evade action

Malda: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday claimed that while the real culprits behind the violence and gherao of judicial officers in Malda district's Mothabari have escaped, the NIA is picking up innocent local people and harassing them.

Addressing an election rally at Manikchak in Malda, she urged the gathering not to approach judicial officers scrutinising 'under adjudication' cases post-SIR, instead submit applications before tribunals for re-inclusion of names of those erroneously removed from the voters' list.

Also Read: West Bengal Malda incident: Judicial officers gheraoed for hours, ECI seeks DGP report


"Two communal parties gheraoed the judges and escaped. Now, local youths are being harassed by the NIA. They have picked up some 50 innocent people in the name of investigations," Banerjee said, ostensibly referring to the ISF and the AIMIM.

She let out a gasp of disbelief from the dais after an overwhelming number of hands were raised from those attending the public meeting when Banerjee asked for a show of hands of those whose names were deleted from the electoral rolls.

"There is no need to hold political rallies and meetings of our party. My priority is to extend help to these people to apply before tribunals to include the names wrongly deleted from the electoral rolls," the TMC supremo instructed the party's local leaders present on the stage.

"Do not fall for any provocation. The BJP wants to stoke violence and then use central agencies to pick up people as they did in Mothabari," she told the gathering.

Also Read: Malda Hostage Case: AIMIM-linked key accused held while fleeing

Seven judicial officers were held hostage inside the local BDO office in the Mothabari area of Malda district, and an eighth was confined inside a vehicle for about nine hours on Wednesday after a large crowd, protesting post-SIR deletion of names from voters' lists, turned violent by blocking roads, vandalising vehicles and attacking police personnel.

So far, 35 people have been arrested by the state CID in connection with the violence. The NIA has now been tasked by the EC with probing the incident following a directive from the Supreme Court, which has censured the West Bengal administration over the issue.