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The City Session Court in Kolkata on Tuesday granted 14 days of judicial custody for the 15 accused produced by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with last month's road blockades and illegal detention of judges engaged in a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise of electoral rolls before the state Assembly elections.
Speaking with ANI, the NIA Public Prosecutor Shyamal Kumar Ghosh said that the agency has seized the accused's mobile phones, which will be sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory for analysis. "We prayed for 14-day judicial custody and the Court granted the same.15 mobile phones were seized. We will send the phones to CFSL (Central Forensic Science Laboratory) for analysis," he said. This comes a day after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday arrested 15 protestors in connection with the case, in a special operation in West Bengal's Malda district. NIA, which had taken over the investigation on the Election Commission of India's direction after the Supreme Court took suo moto cognisance of the acts, carried out an extensive operation in Malda district yesterday. A total of 15 persons were apprehended for their involvement in the blockade of roads and the illegal detention of judicial officers on duty in two separate cases. In one case, 12 individuals, including the main accused, Joshim Sk and Asmaul Sk, were arrested for detaining a lady judicial officer for about 8 hours along the road between Haibatola and Amlitola. Three other persons, identified as Alamgir Sk, Nurul Islam and Habibur Rahman, were arrested in connection with the blockade of Bagmara Bridge in Mothabari block. The incident occured on April 3 in Malda in connection with the incident, where thousands of people on April 1 blocked the two gates of the Kaliachak-II BDO, holding staff, including seven judicial officers, "hostage" for hours before they were rescued after midnight. The standoff was triggered by mass deletions from the electoral rolls under the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process. The anti-terror agency initiated the preliminary enquiry late on April 2 after the Election Commission of India (ECI) formally referred the matter, sending a letter to its Director General. The ECI's direction to the NIA came following the Supreme Court's order, asking the poll panel that "a central agency, either CBI or NIA" probe the incident, pointing out the attack "deliberate and calculated" attempt to demoralise the judicial officers and obstruct them from discharging their duty. The apex court had also mentioned specifically that it cannot be tolerated, and also directed the ECI to seek deployment of central forces for the protection of the officers and their families in the state. All the accused were arrested on charges of violence, arson and an eight-hour gherao of seven judicial officials, comprising three women among them, at the Kaliachak-II block office. (ANI)
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