Police arrest 17 people in Malda judicial officers' gherao case; EC hands over probe to NIA

Kolkata: Police on Thursday arrested at least 17 people, including a poll candidate, for their alleged involvement in the gherao of seven judicial officials in West Bengal's Malda district over the deletion of names from electoral rolls, a senior officer said.

Indian Secular Front (ISF) candidate Maulana Shahjahan Ali and 16 others were arrested and produced before a district court, he said, adding that they were remanded to 10 days of police custody.

"These people were involved in last night's incident in Malda. We have got concrete evidence. They will be questioned," the policeman said.

The arrests follow an incident on Wednesday at the Kaliachak II block office, under Mothabari Assembly constituency, where seven judicial officials, engaged in voter list-related work, were allegedly confined for over seven-and-a-half hours by a group of protesters at a BDO office.

Three of the officials were women.

After his arrest, Ali denied the charges and claimed he was being framed due to his political affiliation.

"I have been falsely implicated because I am an ISF candidate," he told reporters while being produced in court.

He also claimed he was not present at the site during the incident.

"I had gone to attend a religious gathering and was returning home when I was arrested. There is a conspiracy against me," he said.

Police are investigating the incident and have not ruled out further arrests.

The Election Commission of India on Thursday handed over the probe into the gherao of the seven judicial officers in West Bengal's Malda district to the NIA, following a Supreme Court directive.

Observing that West Bengal was the "most polarised state", the Supreme Court delivered a stinging indictment of the state administration after seven judicial officers engaged in SIR exercise were held hostage by protesters in Malda district and directed a CBI or NIA probe into the incident.

In an April 2 letter to the National Investigating Agency, the poll body referred to the apex court's order and directed it to probe the Wednesday incident.

Talking to PTI, a top official of the poll body said the NIA team would reach West Bengal on Friday.

Slamming the state administration for its "complete failure" and inaction over the "deplorable" gherao and attack on the officers during the Special Intensive Revision(SIR) of the voters list, the court also asked the EC to "requisition adequate Central Forces and deploy them at all places where judicial officers are adjudicating the objections".

West Bengal will have a two-phase poll -- on April 23 and 29.

The Supreme Court further said the incident was a "brazen attempt not only to browbeat the judicial officers" but also amounted to a challenge to the authority of this Supreme Court.

The top court gave the order after it took suo motu cognisance of a letter from the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court detailing a harrowing night where the judicial officers, including three women and a five-year-old child, were held captive by a mob for over nine hours without food or water.

The incident occurred during the SIR exercise in the Kaliachowk area of Malda district, and as per the order, seven judicial officers were gheraoed by "anti-social elements" at a BDO office starting at 3:30 PM on Wednesday.

The officers were rescued by security forces around midnight on Wednesday after they were gheraoed over the alleged deletion of names from the electoral rolls, officials said.