Attack On NIA Team: Mamata Questions Timing Of Raid; BJP Says No Law And Order In Bengal

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India] : In her first response to the attack on an NIA team at Bhupatinagar in Purba Medinipur district while carrying out a probe in connection with a blast case, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday claimed the elite anti-terror agency did not share any prior word with the state government on their visit to the area.

According to sources in the ruling TMC, the CM also questioned why the agency had to carry out this raid in the middle of the night.

Speaking on the Bhupatinagar incident, Mamata said, "Why did they have to carry out the raid at midnight? Did they have police permission? The locals reacted in the same manner as they would if any stranger were to come calling on them in the middle of the night. Why are they picking up and arresting people just before the elections? What does the BJP think...that they can get our booth agents arrested? What right does the NIA have? These actions are meant to favour a particular political party going into the elections. We call upon all conscientious people across the country and the world to rise the BJP's dirty politics."

Lashing out at the ruling TMC in the state, veteran BJP leader and former Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "Is this the first time such an incident took place in Bengal? Was the ED (team) not attacked earlier? Didn't the truth about Sandeshkhali come out (in light of the attack on the ED team)? The NIA (team) was out carrying out raids against suspected terrorists when they came under attack."

BJP leader Rahul Sinha launched a fierce attack on CM Mamata saying the incident has yet again brought the complete collapse of law and order in Bengal into the spotlight.

"This brazen attack on an NIA team vindicates our stand that there is no law and order in Bengal. The chief minister is running a dictatorship here in the name of governance and administration. She has put the state's fare and future in the hands of extremists," Sinha told.

"We demand that those behind this incident be identified and brought to justice at the earliest. We demand exemplary punishment for the culprits," the BJP leader added.

Earlier in the day, some officers of the NIA were allegedly heckled in Purba Medinipur district while carrying out a probe in connection with a blast case.

According to sources in the elite anti-terror probe agency, an NIA team visiting Puba Medinipur in connection with an ongoing probe into the blast case came under attack on Saturday.

Sources said the vehicle in which the NIA officers were travelling was allegedly vandalised while a person was being picked up in connection with the case.

In a video of the alleged incident that was widely shared on social media, locals were purportedly seen gathering around a vehicle, trying to stop the NIA team from taking the suspect along with them.

The villagers also pelted the vehicle with stones, sources added.

As was widely reported earlier, a team of ED officers were surrounded, heckled and attacked by protesters in Sandeshkhali while raiding the residence of expelled and jailed TMC strongman Sheikh Shahjahan and another ruling party leader in connection with an alleged food scam.