According to the NIA, Balai Charan Maity and Manobrata Jana were arrested from Bhupatinagar in the state’s East Medinipur district after extensive searches at five locations, including the house of Jana, where a crowd of residents tried to obstruct the team. The vehicle with the two alleged conspirators was also vandalised by the locals, leading to one NIA official suffering a minor injury.
“Manorama Jana, and the other arrested accused, identified as Balai Charan Maity, were found to have conspired to manufacture and explode crude bombs to spread terror,” the NIA said in a statement.
The agency said that its official vehicle was damaged and that an aggressive crowd tried to stop its team and the security personnel accompanying them from moving towards Bhupatinagar police station to complete the arrest formalities. The NIA has lodged a complaint at the local police station in this regard.
Three people were killed in the December 2022 explosion at the house of one Rajkumar Manna in Naruabilla village. Manna was seriously injured along with two others, Biswajit Gayen and Buddhadeb Manna. All three succumbed to injuries later.
The West Bengal Police initially registered an FIR on December 3, 2022, against the three men but the provisions of the Explosive Substances Act were not applied. Subsequently, a writ petition was filed before the Calcutta High Court with a prayer for invoking the relevant sections of the Act and transferring the case to NIA.
The NIA took over the case on June 4 2023 following a high court order dated March 21, 2023, and re-registered it under various sections of law, including the Explosive Substances Act.
During the investigation, the NIA said it uncovered the role of several other accused in the case, including the arrested accused, Manobrata Jana of Naruabila village, and Balai Charan Maity of Ninaruya Analberia.
“The two men had actively participated in the conspiracy to make crude bombs and had extended support for the same, NIA had found in its probe, which led to today’s searches and arrests,” the NIA statement added.
The arrested accused will be produced before the special NIA court in Kolkata.