Kolkata, April 3 (IANS) The probe team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), entrusted by the Election Commission of India (ECI) to investigate the case of harassment of seven judicial adjudication officers in minority-dominated Malda district in West Bengal, will reach Kaliachak later in the day and will first talk to the affected officers.

At the time the report was filed, the NIA had yet to specify either the details of the probe team or their next course of investigation in the matter. However, sources aware of the development said that besides speaking to the affected judicial officers and knowing the details of their experience on Wednesday, the NIA’s probe team might also interrogate the 18 accused persons already arrested by the West Bengal Police in the matter.

Among the 18 accused arrested in this connection, one is the All India Secular Front (AISF) candidate from Mothabari Assembly constituency in Malda district, Maulana Shahjahan Ali.

On Thursday afternoon, a division bench of the Supreme Court directed the ECI to choose either the NIA or the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the matter, and finally on Thursday night, the ECI sent a communiqué to the NIA’s director general directing him to start the investigation in the matter by Friday morning.

The NIA is supposed to submit its first preliminary report in the matter to the same division bench of the Supreme Court on April 6.

Meanwhile, amid the harassment of judges at Kaliachak on Wednesday night, the ECI had also directed the West Bengal Police to take strict action against unauthorised gathering of people anywhere in the state, especially in front of the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal in central Kolkata, which has been epicentre of protest demonstration since last Tuesday mainly by groups affiliated to the ruling Trinamool Congress.

“No procession, meeting or gathering can be held without permission. Anyone who violates this order may be arrested, as has been directed by the Commission,” an insider from the CEO’s office said.

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.

–IANS

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