Malda gherao case: CM says arrest of Mothabari prime accused by CID was ‘in my control’
Telegraph | 4 April 2026
Mamata Banerjee on Friday said the prime accused in the gherao of the seven judicial officers at Mothabari in Malda district had been arrested by the CID, which still reported to her government.
The chief minister had on Thursday blamed the Election Commission and Union home minister Amit Shah for the nine-hour hostage crisis on the previous day and suggested that she lacked administrative powers after the transfer of top officials by the EC following the announcement of the Assembly polls.
Addressing a rally at Harirampur in South Dinajpur, Mamata portrayed the arrest of advocate Mofakkerul Islam from the Bagdogra airport on Friday as proof of the state’s abilities when left unhindered by the Centre’s interference.
“Do you know who caught the culprit of the incident in Malda’s Mothabari? In a flash... haatey naatey (red-handed). Our own CID. While they were trying to flee via Bagdogra. They had come from Mumbai. Even before the NIA arrived, our CID took decisive action. The CID, mind you, is still under my control,” the Trinamool Congress chairperson asserted, drawing a sharp line between her machinery and the administrative apparatus currently under the EC’s oversight.
The chief minister alleged a hybrid warfare model where the BJP “loaned” assets from the AIMIM and others to destabilise Malda district and bring disrepute to the state (her regime).
“The BJP loaned him (Islam) from the AIMIM and brought him here. The ISF is with them. The Congress and the BJP have also instigated the situation. It was they who engineered the violence in Malda’s Mothabari,” she said, repeatedly accusing Asaduddin Owaisi’s outfit of acting as a “B-team” of the BJP.
The AIMIM is contesting the polls in alliance with Humayun Kabir’s fledgling AJUP.
She called Owaisi a “BJP-rented poll season cuckoo”.
In a clinical dissection of the administrative shifts mandated by chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Mamata reminded the Bengal bureaucracy that while their reporting managers had changed for the time being, their roots remained local.
“The Election Commission has appointed a new DGP, police commissioners, district magistrates, and (countless) other officers. I know they are all from Bengal and will support the state. They should not listen to the BJP. Instead, they should work for the people. For the moment, power has been taken away from us, but we will come back soon and take stock of everything,” she said.
With less than three weeks left for the first phase of the polls, Mamata’s slightly redone itinerary reflects the urgency of controlling the Malda damage internally.
On Saturday, she will conduct a marathon four-event blitz in Malda: rallies at Ratua, Malatipur, and Gazole, and a road-show at English Bazar. The procession, an eleventh-hour decision, will begin at 3pm and is designed as a show of strength and a shot in the arm for a cadre rattled by recent developments in the 12-seat, Muslim-majority district, which is among the worst affected by the SIR exercise.
Mamata appealed to women voters to go vote with broomsticks in hand, sweeping the way to and from the booths clear, suggesting central forces might interfere under instructions from the BJP-EC nexus.
“The BJP is more dangerous than the CPM. In fact, all those who were the CPM are now the BJP. They are very venomous,” she said.
The chief minister alleged central forces were being used as mules for illegal cash. “Money is being brought in using CRPF vehicles. I have a record of these movements and will expose them at the appropriate time,” she claimed, while dismissing Amit Shah’s planned 15-day Bengal camp as a liability for the BJP.
“The more people see his face, the fewer votes his party will get,” she said.
Suvendu charge
Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari posted an old photograph of Mofakkerul Islam to claim that Mamata was behind the hostage crisis at Mothabari.
“The matter is as clear as water — the heinous, life-threatening attack carried out by a section of people on judicial officers, including respected judges (women judges as well), in Malda district was masterminded by Mamata Banerjee,” Adhikari wrote on his X social media handle.
“This is not the first time that judges have been harassed in West Bengal..... Even now, the person named Mofakkerul, who is being identified as an instigator, is being deliberately labeled in various ways by Mamata Banerjee. ... I have said this before and I am saying it again — the Malda incident was entirely planned and executed by the Trinamool.”