Kolkata, April 13 (IANS) The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested a total of three people in the Mothabari incident in Malda. After an ISF leader, the investigators have now arrested two Congress leaders, said an official of the central investigation agency on Monday.

The arrested individuals have been identified as Shahdat Hossain and Asif Sheikh.

According to NIA officials, two Congress leaders from Malda were summoned for questioning on Sunday. During questioning, inconsistencies were found in their statements. After that, the two were arrested. Earlier, a person named Golam Rabbani was arrested. Even the Congress candidate for the Mothabari Assembly seat, Sayem Chowdhury, was questioned for a long time by the NIA officials. However, he was later released.

The National Investigation Agency has filed 12 FIRs in the CBI Special Court in Kolkata on the orders of the Supreme Court in connection with the detention of judges while working as part of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in Mothabari of Malda district.

According to NIA officials, the cases have been registered under various sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) such as attempt to murder, wrongful detention, unlawful assembly, assault on government servants while trying to disperse an unlawful assembly, obstruction of government servants, disobeying orders of government servants, assault on government servants, vandalism of government property, criminal intimidation, and illegal blockade of a national highway for a long time.

In protest of the omission of names from the voter’s list of West Bengal, various areas, including Mothabari, Sujapur and Kaliachak in Malda, were heated from time to time. On April 3, the agitated crowd kept seven judges engaged in the work of SIR inside the Kaliachak-II block office till night. The matter then went to the Supreme Court.

Expressing dissatisfaction with the role of the state police administration, the apex court said that the investigation should be conducted by the CBI or the NIA. Similarly, the Election Commission handed over the investigation to the NIA.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his election campaign in West Bengal, spoke on this issue and targeted the Trinamool Congress for unleashing a reign of terror in the state.

He accused the Trinamool Congress of misleading the people regarding the SIR exercise and said there is no place for infiltrators in Bengal.

–IANS

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