The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested 14 more people in connection with the alleged confinement and harassment of judicial officers in West Bengal’s Malda district ahead of the assembly elections, officials said on Tuesday.
The arrests were made during overnight raids on Monday in the Kaliachak and Mothabari areas. With the latest action, the total number of arrests in the case has risen to 68.
According to investigators, the newly arrested individuals were directly involved in the April 1 incident in Mothabari, where a mob allegedly held seven judicial officers hostage inside a BDO office and confined another officer inside a vehicle for nearly nine hours.
The violence erupted during protests over the deletion of names from electoral rolls. Officials said protesters blocked roads, vandalised vehicles and attacked police personnel during the unrest.
The judicial officers had been deployed for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists and were later rescued by security forces late at night. The incident sparked a major political controversy in the state ahead of the assembly polls.
"The NIA is trying to identify others linked to the incident. Several crucial leads have emerged during questioning of those earlier arrested and scrutiny of CCTV footage, leading to a series of arrests over the past few weeks," a senior official said.
The NIA took over the probe following directions from the Supreme Court.
Among those arrested earlier in the case are ISF’s Mothabari candidate Maulana Shahjahan Ali Qadri and ISF leader Golam Rabbani.