NIA probes Bengali residents with suspected Maoist links during day-long raid | Calcutta

The raids took place in Kolkata, South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas, Howrah, Nadia and West Burdwan districts.

“Officials from the NIA office in Ranchi conducted the day-long operation. They did not arrest anyone but seized a large quantity of documents, mobile phones and laptops from the homes of several Bengali citizens with suspected Maoist links. Two people, a man and a woman, have been informed and summoned to the Ranchi office for questioning,” a state police official said on condition of anonymity.

No NIA official commented on the raids.

Some of the people under investigation told the media that the NIA officials had inquired about the whereabouts of Nirmala Biswas, a suspected Maoist activist from Bengal, for whose arrest the agency has announced a reward.

Sipra Chakraborty, who was called to Ranchi, said the NIA searched her house in Panihati in North 24 Parganas.

“They asked about my association with Adhikar, a civil rights group. They said they were following up on some leads found in the arrest of Maoist leader Prasanta Bose (alias Kishan Da) in 2021. They made me a suspect. I was called to Ranchi,” said Chakraborty.

The NIA officers searched the house of Prasenjit Chakraborty, a freelance journalist, at Behala in Kolkata and Sudipta Pal, editor of a civil rights magazine, at Asansol in West Burdwan district.

“They confiscated my cell phone and my computer’s hard drive. How can I work without my hard drive? The allegations are baseless,” Pal told local media.

The house of Basu Naskar, a senior citizen, was searched in Thakurpukur on the southern outskirts of Kolkata.

“The NIA has seized all five mobile phones from my family. I don’t know what I did,” Naskar said.

In Baruipur in South 24 Parganas district, the house of seller Gour Majumdar was searched for three hours.

“The NIA seized many documents and questioned Majumdar about the whereabouts of Sanjay Mondal, a local resident with suspected Maoist links,” a local police officer said.

In Howrah district, the NIA questioned the parents of Siddhasatya Roy, a college student who had left his home in Chatterjee Hat area three years ago.

In Chakdah in Nadia district, the NIA officers picked up Siddheswar Biswas, a local resident, from his home and questioned him at the local police station.

“Biswas was called to Ranchi,” said a police officer.