• Source:JND
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Bengal NIA Attack: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday accused NIA officials of attacking villagers at Bhupatinagar in Purba Medinipur district and not the other way around. She claimed that the officials of the central probe agency barged into several houses in the early hours over an incident of "bursting of crackers in 2022", she defended the villagers' response as self-defence.

"The attack was not perpetrated by the women of Bhupatinagar, but rather by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) team," she said at an election rally in Dakshin Dinajpur district's Balurghat.

"Will the women sit back if they (NIA) go to their houses at night? They will try to defend themselves?" she asked.

Here Are Top Updates:

- The NIA arrested two key conspirators in a 2022 blas case amid an attack on the probe agency's team by a crowd in East Medinipore district, reports news agency PTI, citing officials.

- A NIA officer was injured, and a vehicle belonging to the probe agency was damaged in the attack, a spokesperson of the federal investigating agency said.

- NIA has also lodged a complaint at Bhupatinagar police station.

- A vehicle carrying NIA officials was attacked on Saturday by villagers in Purba Medinipur district's Bhupatinagar when they went there to investigate a 2022 bomb blast case.

- Reacting to the attack on the NIA, West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose said on Saturday that the matter should be treated with "all seriousness that it deserves". He also added that such an "attempt to bully the investigating agencies does not bring credit to anyone down the line" and the matter has to be dealt with an iron hand.

- "This is a very serious situation which has to be dealt with all the seriousness that it deserves. This kind of 'goondaism' should not be allowed. Muscle power should not replace legal power. This has to be dealt with an iron hand," Bose told PTI at the Raj Bhavan.

- The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has claimed a  "state-sponsored attack" on the officials of the NIA and accused Chief Minister Banerjee of inciting the violence to create hurdles in the 2022 blast case probe to protect those involved in the incident.

- BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said, "The attack on the NIA officials is Sandeshkhalli 2.0 orchestrated by the state to put hurdles to the investigation into the bomb blast case".

- Poonawalla alleged that the pattern of attack on the NIA officials in the Bhupatinagar area of West Bengal's East Medinipur district was similar to the attack on the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials, organised by the ruling TMC, in the Sandeshkhali area of North 24 Parganas recently to "protect" Shahzahan Sheikh.