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NIA arrests TMC leader in ’09 hijacking case, party questions timing
“I am not going into the merit of the case. But the timing of the arrest is questionable. He was arrested in connection with a decade-old case during assembly elections,” said TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh.
Kolkata Sleuths of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested Trinamool Congress leader Chhatradhar Mahato on Sunday in connection with the hijacking of the Bhubaneswar-Delhi Rajdhani Express at Jahrgram in West Bengal by a Maoist-backed organisation more than a decade ago.
On October 27, 2009, a few hundred members of the Maoist-backed People’s Committee against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) allegedly hijacked the Delhi-Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express in Jhargram district. The stand-off with security agencies continued for almost six hours.
They demanded Mahato’s release, who had been arrested a month before in connection with another case that was related to a failed attempt to blow up former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s convoy in November 2008.
“He was arrested on Sunday under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in connection with the 2009 hijacking of Rajdhani Express. Even though he was initially not named by the railway police as one of the 30 accused persons in the case, the NIA said that that his name later cropped up during investigation,” said Kaushik Sinha, Mahato’s lawyer.
In July 2020, the Union home ministry asked the NIA to investigate the hijacking case. The NIA is yet to release any statement related to Sunday’s arrest.
Mahato was seen as the face of the Maoist-backed tribal movement in West Bengal that drew national attention during 2008-2011. He was released from jail in February 2020 and thereafter inducted into the Trinamool Congress and made one of the secretaries of the party’s state committee.
Political analysts had then said that the move was a part of the TMC’s effort to regain ground in Mahato’s native district of Jhargram and in the neighbouring areas of Purulia, West Midnapore and Bankura districts that share historical, geographic and demographic similarities.
The BJP had made deep inroads in the tribal-dominated areas of Jangalmahal in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and had won all five Lok Sabha seats. The party had won 18 of the 42 seats in the state in 2019 and is now targeting to win more than 200 of the 294 assembly seats in West Bengal.
Mahato was given the responsibility of at least 10 constituencies in three districts ahead of the polls. In the first phase, 30 assembly seats of Jangalmahal and its neighbourng areas went to the polls on Saturday.
Mahato was picked up from his residence in Lalgarh, once a Maoist-hotbed in a pre-dawn swoop by a team of about 40 NIA officials. He was brought to Kolkata and produced in court. The court sent him to NIA custody for questioning for two days.
“On court orders Mahato has been appearing before the NIA for questioning in another case. But suddenly on Sunday he was arrested. This was done unconstitutionally, illegally and in a motivated manner and purposely. He was injured while being arrested and the court has taken serious note of this,” said Sinha.
While the TMC has questioned the timing of the arrest, the BJP said there was nothing political about it.
“I am not going into the merit of the case. But the timing of the arrest is questionable. He was arrested in connection with a decade-old case during assembly elections,” said TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh.
“Mahato was released from jail and has been arrested again on court orders. How can there be any politics in it?” said Samik Bhattacharya, the BJP’s spokesperson in West Bengal.
Mahato’s wife Niyati alleged that NIA officials barged into the house, almost breaking the door, and dragged him out after snatching his mobile phone. He was not shown any documents.
“They didn’t even give us time to open the door. They almost broke the door and entered our house. When my husband wanted to see documents they said he has to first go to the police station. He was unwell. When he sat down he was almost dragged out,” Niyati told reporters in Jhargram.
