West Bengal: FIR Against NIA Officials Over Molestation Charges After They Were Attacked For Arresting TMC Workers

West Bengal’s East Medinipur police booked National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials under charges of molestation, hours after they were attacked while conducting a raid on Saturday (6 April).

The controversy began when the anti-terror probe agency picked up Balai Maity and Manobrata Jana, in connection with the blast that ripped apart a house in Bhupatinagar on 3 December 2022, killing three people.

According to the agency, the Maity and Jana were the two key conspirators in the blast case. However, soon after their arrest, Jana's family members filed a complaint that NIA officials molested women.

Both are workers of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC). The FIR was registered against NIA officials under sections 354 (molestation) and 441 (trespassing) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Indian Express reported.

Meanwhile, NIA also filed a written complaint about the attack at the Bhupatinagar police station. The car in which the NIA officials were travelling was also vandalised injuring two of them.

A similar sequence of events was observed in the state's Sandeskhali on 5 January when the Enforcement Directorate (ED) team conducted a search at now-expelled TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh’s house.

The ED officials were attacked and then an FIR was filed accusing the agency's officials of "criminal trespass" and "intending to outrage a woman's modesty". 

"Manobrata Jana, and the other arrested accused, identified as Balai Charan Maity, were found to have conspired to manufacture and explode crude bombs to spread terror," the agency said in a statement.

"The duo, Balai Charan Maity and Manobrata Jana, were arrested after extensive searches at five locations, including the house of Jana, where a crowd of local residents tried to obstruct the NIA team," the NIA said.

The NIA team was reportedly en route to Kolkata when their vehicle was attacked by locals. The villagers reportedly surrounded the vehicle and launched a barrage of stones.

It added that the aggressive crowd tried to stop the NIA team and its security component from moving towards Bhupatinagar police station to complete the arrest formalities.