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The West Bengal Police on Tuesday summoned two National Investigation Agency (NIA) officers in connection with the attack on the premier investigating agency's officers in Bhupatinagar in Purba Medinipur district last week.
As per the notice from the state police, both officers, including the complainant and an officer who was injured during the attack, have been asked to appear before the police as witnesses for the investigation. The police have also asked the injured officer to come along with his medical records as well as the car that was allegedly attacked for forensic analysis. Earlier on April 6, a woman complainant registered an FIR against the NIA personnel at Bhupatinagar police station in which she accused the NIA team and the CRPF personnel of breaking into her house and beating up her husband. In the complaint, the woman also mentioned that the personnel verbally abused her and physically assaulted her when she tried to defend her husband. The FIR states, the complainant also alleged that the said NIA and CRPF personnel outrage her "female modesty". A case has been registered under Sections 325, 34, 354, 354 (B), 427, 448 and 509 of the Indian Penal Code. Earlier on Saturday, in response to the attack on the NIA team at Bhupatinagar while carrying out a probe in connection with a blast case, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed that the elite anti-terror agency did not share any prior word with the state government on their visit to the area. The Chief Minister also questioned why the agency had to carry out this raid in the middle of the night. "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," Banerjee said. The NIA, however, refuted the allegations of unlawful actions levelled against it and dismissed the entire controversy as unfortunate. The NIA made it clear that its actions were bona fide, lawful and legally mandated, as part of it's ongoing investigation into the heinous crime related to the fabrication of crude bombs, leading to an explosion that killed three persons in Naruabila village, PS Bhupatinagar district, Purba Medinipur, in West Bengal. The incident had taken place in December 2022 and the NIA had taken over the investigation in the case (re-registered by NIA as RC 16/2023/NIA/DLI) on June 6, 2023, on the directions of the Hon'ble Calcutta High Court. (ANI)
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