A senior officer was on Monday entrusted with probing two cases — one by the NIA and the other by a woman — lodged at Bhupatinagar police station in East Midnapore on Saturday.
A sub-inspector of police had initially been made the investigating officer (IO) of both the cases. On Monday, an officer of the rank of circle inspector was given the responsibility of probing the two cases.
The first case deals with the attack on a team of NIA sleuths who had gone to Naruabila village to arrest Trinamul Congress leaders in connection with a 2022 blast.
In the second complaint lodged at the Bhupatinagar police station, the NIA officers were accused of molesting a woman.
"There was an internal decision in the department to entrust a senior officer to investigate the two cases. He is the circle inspector of Bhupatinagar overseeing law and order in areas under the jurisdictions of two police stations and is far more experienced than a sub-inspector of police," a senior officer of the home department said on Monday.
Within hours of taking over the responsibility, the new officer led a police team to Naruabila village and spoke to some of the residents, including a few who were witnesses to the NIA's raid in the early hours of Saturday. The team also spoke to a few women about the alleged case of molestation by the NIA team.
"Statements of several villagers about what they had witnessed on Saturday morning when an NIA team reached were recorded during the visit. We had initially been unsure whether they would be forthcoming. But a majority of the villagers were willing to record their statements," said a senior police officer who was in the visiting team.
"Investigations into both the cases will proceed parallelly."
The police were also preparing to ask the NIA to submit the medical report of an officer who had received an injury during the raid that led to the arrest of Trinamul leaders Monobrata Jana and Balai Charan Maity.
"A medical report is a piece of evidence. Since the NIA has alleged assault, apart from preventing government officers from performing their duties, we will need this report," the officer said.
On Sunday, the NIA had sent summonses to three others in Bhupatinagar for questioning in the 2022 bomb-blast case. Subir Maity, Naba Kumar Panda and Manab Kumar Parua were asked to appear for questioning on Monday.
The trio didn't turn up.
NIA officers said they were yet to decide on the next course of action. But it is necessary to get the trio's statements and verify the same with the two accused, who are now in NIA custody, they added.
Court relief
Justice Jay Sengupta of Calcutta High Court on Monday issued an interim order restraining Bhupatinagar police from taking any coercive measure against 20 BJP workers till Tuesday. The judge asked the officer-in-charge of Bhupatinagar police station to attend his court on Tuesday with the papers relating to the cases against the BJP workers.
The BJP workers alleged that Trinamul had lodged about 40 "fake" criminal cases against them after the NIA raid on Saturday.