Calcutta HC bars police from taking coercive action against NIA staff on FIR filed at Bhupatinagar

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed the West Bengal Police not to take any coercive action against the National Investigation Agency (NIA) staff based on a counter FIR registered against them at the Bhupatinagar police station in East Midnapore district after an agency team was reportedly attacked there on April 6.

A single-judge bench of Justice Jay Sengupta also directed that any questioning of NIA staff by the state police must be videographed, and that too after serving a notice 62 hours in advance.

To recall, an NIA team was attacked on the morning of April 6 when they were returning from Bhupatinagar after arresting two local Trinamool Congress leaders in connection with a blast there in December 2022 that killed three persons.

Soon after the NIA registered an FIR at the Bhupatinagar police station over the attack on its staff, a counter FIR was lodged against them by the family members of one of the two arrested Trinamool leaders, accusing the central agency staff of molestation.

On Tuesday, the NIA approached the bench of Justice Sengupta challenging the counter FIR. After hearing both sides on Wednesday, Justice Sengupta barred the state police from adopting any coercive action against the NIA officers.

Incidentally, while addressing an election rally in South Dinajpur district on Wednesday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of shielding the accused in the 2022 Bhupatinagar blast case with her attempts to implicate the NIA officers investigating the matter.