According to officials, Subir Maity, Manab Kumar Parua, and Naba Kumar Panda have been summoned to the NIA office in Kolkata’s New Town at 2 pm on Monday.
Last week, Maity, Parua, and Panda were summoned by the NIA but the Trinamool Congress leaders didn’t appear before the agency. On Sunday, the agency looked for them in the area but couldn’t find them and served the notice to them. “The three have been asked to appear for questioning in our office,” said an NIA official.
The Bhupatinagar blast took place on December 3, 2022, in which three people were killed, and the NIA took over the investigation on June 6, 2023, at the direction of the Calcutta High Court. Since then more than 10 people have been summoned in connection with the probe. Two people have been arrested and, as per sources, 14 TMC workers are under the NIA’s scanner in the case.
On Monday, a 10-member delegation of the TMC, which has alleged a conspiracy between the Bharatiya Janata Party and NIA, will visit the Election Commission of India seeking action against the BJP and central agency officials in this case. The ruling party also plans to approach the Supreme Court on the matter.
A day before, the ruling party alleged BJP leader Jitendra Tiwari met the NIA’s Kolkata-based superintendent Dhan Ram Singh at the latter’s residence on March 26 and handed a list of Trinamool Congress leaders who he reportedly said should be arrested before the Lok Sabha elections 2024. Tiwari has refuted the allegations and challenged the TMC to prove its allegation or face a defamation suit.
On Saturday, an NIA team was attacked at Bhupatinagar after they picked up two TMC workers in connection with the blast case. An NIA officer was injured and the windshield of a vehicle was damaged when a mob allegedly attacked the team that went to arrest TMC’s Manobrata Jana and Bailicharan Maity. After the attack, the NIA officers were booked for allegedly harassing and molesting two women from the family of one of the TMC leaders arrested in the case, a charge denied by the central agency.
Meanwhile, the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer has sought a report from the State Government on the attack on the NIA team. West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose has also sought a report on the incident.