In a significant breakthrough in the West Bengal Ram Navami violence case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested 16 individuals for conspiring and carrying out a communal attack during a religious procession.
“The arrests were made based on revelations that emerged during the probe and the identification of the accused from video footages of the violence seized during the investigations,” the statement in the press release read.
The incident had taken place on March 30, 2023, during a procession to celebrate Ram Navami in Dalkhola, Uttar Dinajpur District, West Bengal. The accused were among those who attacked members of a specific community participating in the procession, according to NIA officials.
Initially, the State police had registered a case against 162 individuals following the communal violence, which was reported during and after rallies of Ram Navami in three districts of West Bengal – Howrah, Hooghly and North Dinajpur.
Two FIRs in the case were registered at Dalkhola police station in North Dinajpur district, two FIRs at Shibpur police station in Howrah, two at Rishra and Srirampur police stations in Hooghly.
Subsequently, on April 27, 2023, the Calcutta High Court ordered the transfer of cases related to communal violence during Ram Navami celebrations to the NIA. As a result, the NIA took up the investigation of six such cases, including the present one.
The 16 accused taken into custody by the NIA have been identified as Afroj Alam, Md Ashraf, Md. Imtiaz Alam, Md. Irfan Alam, Kaiser, Md. Farid Alam, Md. Furkan Alam, Md. Pappu, Md. Suleman, Md. Sarjan, Md. Nurul Hoda, Wasim Arya, Md. Salahuddin, Md. Jannath, Wasim Akram, and Md. Tanweer Alam. All of them are residents of Dalkhola.
The NIA is currently continuing with further investigations in the case.
