West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, speaking at an election rally in Malda on Saturday, April 4, 2026, criticized the National Investigation Agency (NIA) regarding its investigation into a recent incident in the district's Mothabari area. She alleged that while the "real culprits" behind the violence and the gherao of judicial officers had escaped, the NIA was unjustly targeting and harassing innocent local residents.
The Chief Minister further claimed that "two communal parties" were responsible for the original incident, accusing the BJP of aiming to incite violence and subsequently use central agencies for arrests. The incident, which occurred on Wednesday, April 1, involved a large crowd protesting the deletion of names from voters' lists post-SIR (Special Integrated Revision). This protest turned violent, leading to seven judicial officers being held hostage inside a local BDO office and an eighth confined in a vehicle for approximately nine hours, along with road blockages, vehicle vandalism, and assaults on police personnel. Banerjee advised the public to submit applications before tribunals for the re-inclusion of names erroneously removed from voter lists, rather than approaching judicial officers for "under adjudication" cases post-SIR.
Source: https://www.thehindu.com/elections/west-bengal-assembly/west-bengal-assembly-polls-while-real-culprits-escaped-nia-harassing-local-people-mamata-on-action-in-malda-gherao/article70822770.ece
