'BJP’s cuckoo from Hyderabad': Mamata Banerjee blames Owaisi for judicial officers' gherao

Amid arrest of a lawyer and others over the recent confinement of seven judicial officers in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Friday took a dig at AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, calling him “BJP’s cuckoo from Hyderabad” and blaming him for incident in Malda district.

The NIA launched an investigation into the confinement of the judicial officers engaged in the SIR of the electoral rolls, even as the police arrested a lawyer, allegedly linked with the AIMIM.

The police arrested over 30 other persons from across Malda in connection with 19 cases registered over the confinement of the judicial officers and the road blockades during the protests.

Mamata did not directly name Owaisi but dropped enough hints that she was referring to the AIMIM chief, himself, who addressed an election rally in Murshidabad on Wednesday.

The AIMIM allied with the Aam Janata Unnayan Party launched by Humayun Kabir, a member of the outgoing legislative Assembly. Kabir was suspended from the TMC after he announced his plan to build a replica of Babri Masjid in the state.

“One incident in Malda has tarnished Bengal’s honour. The local people are not responsible for it. They may have grievances. But the people who trapped the judges were outsiders,” Mamata said at an election rally in Habibpur in Malda.

“A cuckoo of the BJP has come from Hyderabad along with some communal people. They are behind all this. We have caught them red-handed. (The) CID (of the West Bengal police) picked them up from the airport.”

Mofakkarul Islam, an advocate and the alleged mastermind of the incident, was arrested by police from Bagdogra airport in North Bengal when he was reportedly preparing to fly to Bengaluru. His aide, Akramul Bagani, was also picked up along with him.

Three cases had been registered against Islam for allegedly provoking the protesting mobs through his speeches at different venues, K Jayaraman, Additional Director General of Police (North Bengal), said.