Amid alleged mob attack on NIA team in Bengal, TMC's Saket Gokhale seeks EC probe into new chief's appointment

New Delhi: The TMC's Saket Gokhale on Monday asked if the Centre had taken the Election Commission's approval before appointing the new NIA director general and sought a probe by the poll panel into the appointment.

He also alleged that the BJP's 'nexus' with central agencies is deepening during the Lok Sabha elections.

In a post on X, Gokhale -- a Trinamool Congress (TMC) Rajya Sabha MP -- alleged that BJP leader Jitendra Tiwari met National Investigation Agency (NIA) Superintendent of Police DR Singh on March 26 and, on the same day, Sadanand Date was appointed as the new chief of the agency.

He claimed Tiwari had met Singh allegedly with a 'packet' and, during this meeting, the BJP leader handed over a list of TMC leaders and workers to be targeted.

Gokhale said the new NIA director general was serving as head of Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) until March 26. He had been appointed to that position by BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, who is the Maharashtra home minister.

"Question is, when an officer appointed by and serving under a BJP state government in Maharashtra was suddenly appointed as director general, NIA, during the election period, did the Modi government take permission of the Election Commission?" Gokhale said in his post.

Date, who was serving as the Maharashtra ATS chief, was appointed director general of the NIA on March 26.

"When the DGP (director general of police) of West Bengal was changed three times in 24 hours by the ECI (Election Commission of India), how was an officer handpicked by the Maharashtra BJP govt appointed as NIA chief without ECI approval?" Gokhale asked.

"How astonishing is the 'co-incidence' that the BJP enters into a conspiracy with the NIA in West Bengal on the same day that the new NIA chief is appointed? This must be probed immediately by the ECI and the Modi govt must explain how a new NIA chief was appointed without ECI approval," he said.

"The BJP's nexus with central agencies is only getting deeper during these Lok Sabha elections and these agencies are literally acting as private mafia of the BJP," he said.

'The NIA conspiring with the BJP to target TMC leaders in West Bengal is not only deplorable but also raises fundamental questions on whether free and fair elections are possible,' Gokhale said.

A 10-member TMC delegation will meet the full bench of the Election Commission in New Delhi on Monday to complain about the 'misuse' of central agencies against party leaders and candidates.

Derek O'Brien, the TMC's Parliamentary Party leader in the Rajya Sabha, MPs Mohammed Nadimul Haque, Dola Sen, Gokhale, Sagarika Ghose, and MLA Vivek Gupta, among others, will be part of the delegation.

The TMC on Sunday had alleged an "unholy alliance" between the NIA and the BJP ahead of the elections, even as the central agency denied any mala fide intention in its probe and labelled the entire controversy as "unfortunate."

A team of the NIA was allegedly attacked by a mob on Saturday when it had gone to arrest the two main suspects in a 2022 blast case in West Bengal's East Midnapore district, sparking a political slugfest, with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accusing the investigators of assaulting the villagers.