NIA takes over probe in Bengal's Mominpur violence

Kolkata: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday took over the investigation of the communal violence that erupted in Kolkata's Mominpur on October 9 which continued till October 10 morning.

The central agency is expected to submit a copy of an FIR filed by it in a lower court in Kolkata on Wednesday and then officially take over the probe from the special investigation team (SIT) of Kolkata Police.

The SIT was formed with the Kolkata Police Commissioner, Vineet Kumar Goyal, himself heading that team following an order of the Calcutta High Court's division bench of Justice Mainpuri Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Apurba Sinha Ray on October 12.

The said division bench did not pass any order for an NIA probe in the matter on that day, but left it to the discretion of the Union ministry to decide whether there would be a central agency probe or not.

Besides asking the SIT to submit a report on the action taken to the same bench within the next two weeks, the division bench also directed the state government to pay compensation to those affected by violence and also report to the court on the action taken by the police on the basis of FIRs lodged in the matter. It also directed a collection of video footage in the case.

Accordingly, the SIT started its investigation and filed five FIRs. So far, the members of SIT have arrested as many as 57 persons.

In the Mominpur clashes that started with verbal spats between two groups of people, a number of police personnel, including a deputy commissioner of the city police were injured.

The leader of the opposition in West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah demanding the deployment of central forces personnel at the troubled zones in the city. He also criticised the city police over detaining Sukanta Majumdar and denying his democratic right to reach the troubled zone. "Try as much as you can. But you will not be able to stop the BJP," Adhikari said.