Malda ‘hostage’ incident: ECI has handed over the probe to NIA
NEW DELHI: The District Magistrate (DM) of West Bengal’s Malda issued a show-cause notice to the Additional District Magistrate (Law and Order) after seven judicial officers, including three women, were gheraoed on April 1. The show-cause notice dated April 4 was served to ADM Shaikh Ansar Ahmad over a “serious lapse in duty and failure to report ground situation to higher authority on 1st April 2026, regarding the condition of judicial officers at Kaliachak.” The notice mentioned that the ADM’s active communication with the Sub-Divisional Officer and the Block Development Officer (BDO) established that he was “fully aware of the developments unfolding on the ground and cannot claim ignorance of the prevailing situation.” The notice accused Ahmad of failing to communicate the gravity of the situation to the higher authority during the critical period between 3:30 pm and 8:30 pm on the incident day. “A period of five continuous hours during which the higher administration was left without any field-level input from the designated officer, thereby severely compromising the ability of the administration to take timely preventive or remedial measures,” it read. The DM sought a written explanation with the reasons for “failure to communicate the gravity of the ground situation to the higher authority,” steps taken by him to undertake his responsibilities of field coordination and escalation, and any other facts or circumstances on record.A major political storm erupted in poll-bound West Bengal after the judicial officers were held hostage for several hours before being rescued by police amid fierce resistance by a group of voters, who claimed their names had been deleted from the electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.The Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of the incident and directed the Election Commission (ECI) to order a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said he himself monitored the incident till 2 am.The ECI subsequently handed over the probe to the NIA, the central agency that investigates terrorism-related cases.On Saturday, an NIA team visited the office of the Malda Superintendent of Police (SP) and later investigated the BDO’s office in Kaliachowk, Malda.Both the opposition BJP and the ruling TMC have accused each other, sparking a political row ahead of the polling for the West Bengal Assembly elections on April 23 and 29.The counting of votes for all 294 constituencies is set for May 4.(With ANI inputs)
