A team from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) faced an attack in Bhupatinagar, located in West Bengal’s East Midnapore district, on Saturday morning. The NIA officials had arrived to probe a blast case that occurred in 2022 at the residence of a Trinamool Congress leader. Initial reports suggest that bricks were hurled at the NIA team’s vehicle, resulting in damage to the windshield. Fortunately, there have been no reports of injuries thus far. The incident occurred at around 5:30 am. The blast, which occurred on December 3, 2022, resulted in the destruction of a house with a thatched roof in Bhupatinagar, claiming the lives of three individuals.

In recent times, the NIA had summoned eight Trinamool Congress leaders for questioning regarding their involvement in the blast incident. However, the Trinamool Congress has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of orchestrating the NIA’s actions. The central probe agency had issued summonses to the eight leaders after they failed to comply with earlier summons directing them to appear at the NIA office in New Town near Kolkata on March 28.

Kunal Ghosh, a prominent TMC leader, alleged that the BJP was behind the NIA’s actions. Ghosh further claimed that the BJP had provided a list of TMC leaders from Purba Medinipur district to the NIA, which was allegedly planning their arrests.

This incident involving the NIA team comes just two months after a similar attack on a team of Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials. The ED officials were conducting a raid at the residence of Shahjahan Sheikh, a suspended local TMC leader known to have close ties with arrested state food minister Jyoti Priya Mallick, in connection with a multi-crore ration distribution scam in West Bengal. During the raid, central force personnel accompanying the ED team were also targeted. The mob reportedly attempted to obstruct the ED officers from taking action, pelting stones at their vehicles. As a result, three ED officers had to be hospitalized. The situation was only brought under control after the CRPF personnel accompanying the ED team resorted to baton charging the mob.