Overview
- The NIA filed chargesheets on Tuesday naming 31 accused in four separate Malda cases for organising road blockades and allegedly detaining judicial officers during the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
- The chargesheets were presented in the NIA special court in Kolkata and rely on digital, technical, documentary and witness evidence that detail specific roles for each accused.
- The accused have been booked under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, the National Highways Act, 1956, and the West Bengal Maintenance of Public Order Act, 1972.
- The cases trace back to violence on April 1 at Mothabari, where judicial officers were reportedly gheraoed and a convoy was attacked, prompting the Supreme Court to order a central agency takeover.
- The NIA says its probe is active to identify and trace additional absconding suspects, and the filings raise questions about interference with the statutory SIR process and local accountability ahead of elections.