The National Investigation Agency reached out to one of the seven judicial officers who were held hostage at the office of the Kaliachak block development officer’s office on the evening of April 1 and their convoy attacked on being rescued by the cops.
The NIA team, probing the attack on the order of the Supreme Court, is trying to piece together the chronology of events from when the seven judicial officers, including three women, reached the BDO’s till what transpired after they left the premises on Wednesday well past midnight.
The NIA team will also meet the driver of the pilot car, injured during the attack carried out by a mob outside the block development officer’s office.
On Monday, the NIA will submit a report to the Supreme Court on the investigation into the attack.
Seven judicial officers, including three women, were gheraoed and held hostage for several hours on the evening of April 1 by a 100-strong mob.
The driver of one of the vehicles Ramprasad Mandal was hit by a brick near Gangaprasad colony and lost control of the vehicle. Mandal was later rescued and taken to the Malda general hospital where he remains in a critical condition.
Sources said the NIA team will probe the identity of those who had assembled outside the BDO’s office and set up barricades along the highway, where the convoy of the judicial officers was ambushed and stones pelted.
“They want to know the officers posted inside and outside the BDO’s office. What steps were taken when it became clear that a mob had gathered outside the building? Who the duty officer was when the attack took place and also about the efforts to rescue the judicial officers,” said a source in the Malda police.
A report submitted by the Mothabari police indicated that the attack on the judicial officers was pre-meditated and not a spontaneous eruption of anger over the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The alleged mastermind of the attack, Mofakkerul Islam, an advocate was arrested from Bagdogra airport on Friday morning.
At the Enayetpur union library ground in Malda’s Manikchak, about 32kms from where the April 1 attack on the judicial officers took place, chief minister Mamata Banerjee blamed communal forces for stoking violence.
“Two communal parties came and gheraoed the judicial officers and fled. Local youths are now being harassed by the NIA. Around 50 youths have been arrested,” Mamata said addressing a campaign rally.
The Bengal BJP president and Rajya Sabha MP Samik Bhattacharya said Mamata’s policy of appeasement had led to the attack.
“She has herself created this situation by encouraging radicalisation in the last 15 years that she has been the chief minister,” Bhattacharya said.