NIA moves Calcutta HC against FIR filed by Bengal police; TMC holds protests

A team of NIA officials were allegedly attacked by local women, who charged them with offences ranging from trespassing to outraging modesty, during a raid at Bhupatinagar in East Midnapore district on April 6

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) continued firing salvos at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in poll-bound West Bengal on Tuesday on the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) April 6 raid at Bhupatinagar in East Midnapore district during which its officers were allegedly attacked by local women who charged them with offences ranging from trespassing to outraging modesty.

TMC leaders during a protest in Delhi on Tuesday. (ANI)

Meanwhile, the NIA moved the Calcutta high court on Tuesday afternoon seeking quashing of the FIR in which unnamed officers of the federal agency have been accused under seven sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The TMC held protests in several parts of the state while its national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said a bigger agitation was being planned.

Although the Bhupatinagar police station registered separate first information reports (FIR) based on complaints lodged by NIA and the local people, no arrest was made in either of these cases till Tuesday evening.

“The NIA officer who allegedly sustained injury will be questioned since he is a witness to the alleged mob attack,” a district police official said on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, the NIA’s petition in the high court, filed before the single bench of justice Jay Sengupta, sought interim relief from any coercive action by the local police, the agency’s lawyers told the media.

The charges against NIA officials in the FIR include sections 354 (outraging the modesty of a woman), 354 (b) (assault or use of criminal force against women with intention to disrobe), 325 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt), 34 (multiple persons performing illegal act in pursuit of common goal), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) 448 (trespassing into house) and 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of ₹50).

During the April 6 raid, two TMC leaders, Manobrata Jana and Balai Chandra Maity, were arrested by NIA in connection with the December 2022 blast at TMC leader Rajkumar Manna’s home. Manna and party workers Biswajit Gayen and Buddhadeb Manna were killed in the explosion.

The Calcutta high court ordered an NIA probe in the case in 2023 after BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari filed a petition.

Wanted by NIA in the same case, three other TMC leaders, Subir Maiti, Manab Kumar Parua and Naba Kumar Panda skipped the agency’s summon on Monday.

Abhishek Banerjee told reporters that his party will start a bigger agitation if the Election Commission of India (ECI) does not act on the allegation his party has brought against NIA’s Kolkata-based superintendent of police Dhan Ram Singh.

A day after the NIA raid, the TMC alleged that Bengal BJP leader Jitendra Tiwari met Singh at the latter’s residence on March 26 and handed a list of TMC district leaders who the BJP wanted arrested before the Lok Sabha polls. The NIA is being used by BJP to arrest TMC’s election managers in the districts when the model code of conduct is in force, the ruling party alleged.

While NIA maintained silence on the allegation, TMC leader Kunal Ghosh claimed in a tweet on Tuesday that Singh had been recalled to Delhi.

On Monday, 10 serving and former parliament members of the TMC were arrested in Delhi for staging a dharna outside the office of the ECI. Among the demands the TMC MPs raised before the ECI was immediate transfer of the directors of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED) and NIA.

“We will seek another appointment with the EC in a few days. EC’s actions are biased. The federal agencies are arresting opposition party leaders and workers when the election code of conduct is in force. How could a BJP leader meet an NIA SP? We have proof of this meeting which we will place before the Supreme Court,” Abhishek Banerjee said.

“The BJP is using federal agencies against the opposition because it is aware that voters are not in its favour,” he added.