Bhupatinagar: Monotosh Jana, 15, sits at the doorstep of his mudhouse in Naruabila village in West Bengal’s East Midnapore. His father was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the early hours of Saturday.
“Around 5.30 am, they took my father, and I have no news of him. My mother has gone to pray to Lord Shiva. My father has done no wrong,” Monotosh, who appeared for his Class 10 Board exam this February, said.
Clothes, utensils and containers lay strewn across the floor, mattresses are upturned — it seemed as if a storm hit the house after the NIA team landed in the village to conduct investigation into the Bhupatinagar explosion case of December 2022. Naruabila village falls under Bhupatinagar police station area.
Alone at home now, Monotosh recounted the scenes that unfolded before him Saturday morning while speaking to ThePrint.
“At 3 am, we heard a loud thumping sound on the door. In deep sleep, it took us a while to understand what was going on. When I opened the door, there were 15-16 officers, they had encircled the house and came inside. They kicked my father, hurt my mother and started going through our things,” Monotosh said.
His 40-year-old father Monobroto was arrested by the NIA along with Balai Charan Maity after the NIA found them to have conspired to manufacture and explode crude bombs to spread terror, according to the agency’s statement. Three persons had died in the Bhupatinagar blast.
“They (NIA officers) put me inside the vehicle and asked me to come along with my father,” Monotosh said.
According to the villagers, when they saw the NIA team taking a minor into their vehicle, the women got agitated and blocked the officers and their vehicle, which had entered a narrow road in the village. Witnesses also claimed that when they were protesting against the arrests, the central force used “foul language and physically assaulted the villagers”.
The NIA subsequently alleged that its team had been attacked by a mob in Bhupatinagar.
A press statement issued by the NIA on the day of the incident said: “One NIA team member suffered minor injury and the agency’s official vehicle was also damaged as some miscreants in the crowd assaulted them. The aggressive crowd tried to stop the NIA team and its security component from moving towards Bhupatinagar police station to complete the arrest formalities. The NIA has lodged a complaint at the local police station in this regard.”
The villagers of Bhupatinagar, however, have a different view of events. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a 36-year-old villager said that Monobroto had been “targeted for his political affiliations”.
“The NIA had sent notice to five-six villagers in December last year, just before the panchayat polls, and now again before the Lok Sabha polls, they have sent notice and arrested (Monobroto) Jana. They are targeting workers of the (ruling) TMC here,” he said.
The villagers told ThePrint that Monobroto was a driver who would ferry passengers across the district and sometimes even to places in neighbouring Odisha. “His only fault was that he worked for the TMC and that’s why he has been arrested,” said one villager who did not wish to be named.
NIA sources refuted allegations of “physical assault” while arresting the accused and said due process was followed, from obtaining a warrant from the NIA court to conducting medical tests of the arrested persons before being produced in court as per rules.
According to a Wednesday court order, West Bengal Police had informed the Calcutta High Court: “A team of NIA had arrived at the Bhupatinagar PS at 4.15 am on Saturday and gave a request letter seeking assistance at about 4.25 am. No place was mentioned as the one to be raided. In spite of that, forces were arranged. But, no call came for help till 6.25 am. When the local police officers went near the said village at about 6.45 am, they found that the NIA team returning. The NIA personnel told the police authorities about the incidents that happened there. An FIR was lodged on the basis of the allegations at 8.40 am. The NIA officials had provided no opportunity to the police to render any assistance for such raid (sic).”
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Case history & probe
Saturday’s incident amid the campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls has allowed the TMC to strengthen its case against the “misuse” of central agencies in non-BJP ruled states.
The blast case dates back to December 2022, when late at night the house of a TMC block president in Bhupatinagar was ripped apart in an explosion that killed the TMC leader, his brother and one other person.
Villagers claimed that the TMC booth president’s house was an illegal firecracker factory but denied charges of manufacture of crude bombs that the NIA is now investigating.
While the Calcutta High Court ordered an NIA probe into the case that was initially being investigated by the West Bengal Police, while transferring the case, it also directed the police to add sections of the Explosive Substances Act for the NIA to begin investigation.
Sources within the NIA have told ThePrint that after going through the forensic reports of the blast, “certain leads” had emerged. They also said that the NIA had served notices but hadn’t got any response from those called as witnesses in the case.
The two men arrested by the NIA Saturday are active TMC workers and had taken charge of party work after the death of Rajkumar Manna, the TMC booth president who died in the December 2022 explosion.
These are the only two arrests made in the case so far. ThePrint has accessed a copy of the FIR filed in the case by the NIA.
Hours after Saturday’s incident, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed the NIA was “harassing women”.
Speaking at a public rally in Balurghat, Banerjee said: “Women did not attack anyone in Bhupatinagar. The NIA actually attacked first… if they go to a residence at odd hours and harass the women.”
On Sunday, the Bhupatinagar Police booked NIA officials and accompanying CRPF personnel for “molesting” women on the complaint of some villagers. After the NIA put in a plea in the Calcutta High Court seeking quashing of the FIR against its officers, the HC Wednesday granted interim protection from arrest to NIA officials.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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