Overview
- Federal investigators arrested Saokat Molla late on Friday as part of RC‑25/2026/NIA/DLI, the case the NIA opened after Kolkata police recovered 79 round objects suspected to be crude bombs tied with jute rope.
- The NIA carried out searches at eight locations, including Molla’s home, a party office and family businesses, and detained family members and associates for questioning during the operation.
- Material seized in the raids includes documents, phones and other digital devices that the agency has sent for forensic examination to try to connect physical evidence to suspects and to reconstruct how the explosives were stored and moved.
- The agency has arrested four people so far, including a driver who transported victims after the March 19 blast in Dakshin Bamunia that killed one person and injured others, and it had declared Molla absconding before the arrest and shared his details with the BSF to block any border escape.
- The probe, opened after an MHA direction, heightens federal scrutiny of pre‑election violence in South 24 Parganas and could change local political dynamics as courts consider charges and forensic results shape the scope of the investigation.