Kolkata, April 2 (IANS) The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday night decided to hand over the probe into the harassment of seven judicial adjudication officers at Kaliachak in minority-dominated Malda district to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and instead entrusted the investigation to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Earlier, on Thursday evening, information from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, had indicated that the CBI would probe the matter. However, later in the night, the ECI headquarters in New Delhi conveyed that the NIA had been selected to carry out the investigation.

ECI Secretary Sujeet Kumar Mishra has written to the Director General of the NIA, communicating the Commission’s decision to entrust the probe to the agency.

In the letter, the ECI also directed the NIA to initiate the investigation and submit a preliminary report directly to the Supreme Court, in line with its directions.

It is learnt that the NIA team is likely to reach West Bengal on Friday and begin the investigation immediately.

Earlier in the day, a division bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Surya Kant, strongly denounced the incident and described it as evidence of a complete law and order failure in West Bengal, directing that the matter be probed either by the CBI or the NIA.

However, the apex court left the final decision to the ECI on whether to assign the probe to the CBI or the NIA. The Commission subsequently chose the NIA. The agency is expected to submit its preliminary report to the Supreme Court on April 6.

The apex court also issued notices to West Bengal Chief Secretary Dushyant Nariala, Director General of Police Sidh Nath Gupta, Home Secretary Sanghamitra Ghosh, and the District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police of Malda, asking them to explain why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against them.

On Wednesday, seven judicial officers, including three women, were held hostage inside a block office at Kaliachak in Malda district by a group of voters whose names had been deleted during the process of judicial adjudication under the “logical discrepancy” category.

At around 1 a.m. on Thursday, a large police contingent led by senior district officials reached the spot, dispersed the protesters, rescued the judicial officers, and escorted them to a safe location. They had been gheraoed for around nine hours.

There were also reports that even while being shifted to a safe location after their rescue, an attempt was made to attack the convoy.

Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari and BJP state president and Rajya Sabha MP Samik Bhattacharya alleged that the Kaliachak incident was pre-planned.

“This is not a public outrage by local people. This is a pre-planned event. An attempt is being made to separate North Bengal from South Bengal. The demographics of the border areas are changing. There is a conspiracy to occupy India without a war. Murshidabad and Malda are being used as epicentres. Fake notes are being spread. Recently, Lashkar militants were arrested who admitted to staying in West Bengal. During the Covid-19 period, militant groups have set up modules in Cooch Behar. They have been spread in various parts of West Bengal,” Bhattacharya said.

–IANS

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