West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026: Real culprits escaped, probe agencies harassing locals: Mamata on action in Malda gherao

Malda: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday claimed the culprits behind the violence and gherao of judicial officers in Malda district's Mothabari have escaped, and investigators were harassing the innocent locals in the name of the NIA, the agency assigned to probe the case.

Addressing an election rally at Manikchak in Malda, she urged the gathering not to approach judicial officers scrutinising 'under adjudication' cases post-SIR.

Instead, submit applications before tribunals for the re-inclusion of names of those erroneously removed from the voters' list, the TMC supremo said.

Ostensibly referring to the ISF and the AIMIM, Banerjee said, "Two communal parties gheraoed the judges and escaped. Now, investigators are harassing innocent locals in the name of the NIA. They have picked up some 50 innocent people in the name of investigation."

She let out a gasp of disbelief after an overwhelming number of hands were raised from those attending the public meeting in Manikchak when Banerjee asked for a show of hands of those whose names were deleted from the electoral rolls.

"There is no need to hold political rallies and meetings of our party. My priority is to extend help to these people to apply before tribunals to include the names wrongly deleted from the electoral rolls," the TMC supremo instructed the party's local leaders present on the stage.

Blaming Union Home Minister Amit Shah for the electoral roll purge, Banerjee addressed the BJP leader as "Motabhai" and alleged that he was driving a wedge through the officers' fraternity in the state administration in the name of pre-election transfers.

"I challenge Amit Shah to hold a meeting here in Malda and speak to the people whose names were deleted. The BJP must fall at people's feet and beg for their forgiveness for bringing them this misery. I ask people to exact revenge for name deletions through EVMs," she said.

Urging women to guard EVMs and VVPAT machines once the polls are over, Banerjee directed the grassroots workers of her party to remain vigilant while alleging that "money was being smuggled into the state" in the run-up to the elections.

"Do not fall for any provocation. The BJP wants to stoke violence and then use central agencies to pick up people as they did in Mothabari," she told the gathering.

Seven judicial officers were held hostage inside the local BDO office in the Mothabari area of Malda district, and an eighth was confined inside a vehicle for about nine hours on Wednesday after a large crowd, protesting post-SIR deletion of names from voters' lists, turned violent by blocking roads, vandalising vehicles and attacking police personnel.

So far, 35 people have been arrested by the state CID in connection with the violence.

The EC has now tasked the NIA with probing the incident following a directive from the Supreme Court, which has censured the West Bengal administration over the issue.

At a rally in Gazole in the same district, where a majority of the population is Muslim, the chief minister addressed perceptions over the Trinamool Congress's role in handling the local resistance against the implementation of the Waqf Amendment Act.

"Some people are spreading false information about the Waqf Act. One must remember that we fought against its implementation, and the matter is now in the hands of the Imams. We did not let the BJP take the matter into its own hands," Banerjee said.

Murshidabad district witnessed large-scale violence in April 2025 in connection with the passage and implementation of the Waqf (Amendment) Act in parliament.

Despite initial resistance, the Bengal government, in November 2025, agreed to implement the Act, directing officials to upload data of over 82,000 Waqf properties in the state onto the Centre's UMEED portal by December 5, 2025.