NEW DELHI:
West Bengal chief minister
Mamata Banerjee on Saturday questioned the timing of the probe into the
Medinipur blast
case by a National Investigation Agency (NIA) team, which was attacked at Bhupatinagar on its way to Kolkata on Saturday. She claimed that the NIA team attacked women at Bhupatinagar, not the other way round.
Criticizing the NIA's decision to conduct raids at midnight, Mamata said NIA should not have raided at "midnight" as locals "reacted in the way they would have if any other stranger had visited the place at midnight".
She also accused the NIA of working in favor of the BJP and called for global opposition against what she termed as "BJP's
dirty politics
."
"Why did they raid at midnight? Did they have police permission? Locals reacted in the way they would have if any other stranger had visited the place at midnight. Why are they arresting people right before the elections? What does the BJP think, that they will arrest every booth agent? What right does NIA have? They are doing all these to support the BJP. We call upon the entire world to fight against this BJP's dirty politics," said Banerjee.
The NIA team, dispatched to investigate a 2022 bomb blast case, faced an attack by villagers in Bhupatinagar, Purba Medinipur district. The assault led to injuries among the officials, including an NIA officer, according to police reports.
"Locals gheraoed the vehicle and pelted stones at it. The NIA has said one of its officers was also injured," a senior police official was quoted by PTI as saying.
In response, the NIA swiftly lodged a police complaint regarding the attack.
(With agency inputs)
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