Kolkata: The Bichar Bhavan on Thursday accepted the plea of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to keep the arrested accused persons of Beldanga violence and extended the judicial custody till February 19.
On January 16, Beldanga had turned into a battlefield over the death of a migrant labourer, Alauddin Sheikh, who died under mysterious circumstances in Jharkhand.
It was alleged that Sheikh was murdered for his linguistic identity. When his body reached Beldanga, a massive protest triggered tension, followed by violent acts by a mob. A woman journalist was attacked as well. On January 17, violence continued over the issue. However, a large contingent of police force along with Rapid Action Force (RAF) was deployed following which the situation was brought under control. Later, police had arrested more than 30 persons for their involvement in the violence.
After a few days of the incident, the Union Home Ministry had ordered an NIA probe into the case. From February 1, the NIA took over the investigation. However, NIA allegedly claimed that till Thursday, they did not receive all the documents related to the case from the state police. Meanwhile, for the second time, state police failed to provide a security escort for the accused persons’ physical presence at the court.
Citing the issue, NIA appealed before the court to keep the accused persons in judicial custody.
Earlier, NIA had alleged that they failed to produce the accused persons physically before the court as the police did not provide a security escort. Though it was decided that NIA will produce the accused persons on Thursday. But police reportedly were unable to provide adequate security and escort due to the Higher Secondary examination. Later, 31 accused were produced before the court on Thursday virtually, and the judicial remand was extended till February 17.