Kolkata, June 6 (IANS) Former Trinamool Congress legislator, Saokat Molla, was remanded to 14 days of NIA custody on Saturday by a special court here, in connection with a bomb blast at Bhangar in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal before the recently concluded Assembly polls.

He will be presented at the NIA court again on June 19.

After his arrest on Friday night, the sleuths of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) recovered a mobile phone and a pen drive from Saokat’s possession. The court also granted NIA’s application for forensic examinations of these two items.

The NIA had earlier arrested three people in connection with the blast. Two of them are in jail custody now, and the third person is still in NIA custody.

The judge also granted the application for forensic examination of the electronic devices recovered from these three persons arrested by the NIA earlier.

After being presented at the special NIA court in Kolkata, Saokat’s counsel moved his bail plea. However, the NIA counsel opposed the bail plea and argued that, being a highly influential former MLA in the region, there was every possibility of his attempts to tamper with the evidence and influence the witnesses in the case if he were freed on bail.

Saokat’s counsel argued that since his client used to get Z-category security provided by the previous state government, it was not possible for him to be involved in the bomb blast case.

In the counterargument, the NIA counsel said that after the blast, Saokat contacted the other accused persons regularly and gave them instructions.

Finally, the judge of the special NIA court accepted the argument of the counsel and remanded Saokat to 14 days of NIA custody.

On Friday, Saokat attempted to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh through the coastal borders in South 24 Parganas district. However, he was spotted and chased by local villagers at the border-adjacent Chunakhali area. He managed to escape at that point.

The NIA sleuths kept close surveillance in the related areas. According to sources, as Saokat was trying to arrive at the NIA’s office at New Town on the northern outskirts of Kolkata to voluntarily surrender, he was nabbed midway from an undisclosed location at Baruipur in South 24 Parganas district.

–IANS

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