3 years after Ram Navami violence in Hooghly, NIA arrests local TMC councillor Shakir Ali

Meanwhile, police registered an FIR against his wife and former TMC MP Aparupa Poddar for pushing a woman constable during the detention of Ali. She has been summoned to appear before the police on Wednesday.

NIA officials, on the condition of anonymity, said that during the investigation, they found evidence that the violence was “pre-planned”.

“The arrest was made based on the extensive search operation, interrogation of locals, eyewitness statements, and verification of certain documents. Call records, CCTV footage, and videos of the violence showed that the violence in Rishra was pre-planned,” an NIA official said on the condition of anonymity.

Violence had erupted in Rishra during a Ram Navami procession, led by BJP leader Dilip Ghosh, in 2023.

Ghosh is now a Cabinet minister in the new BJP government in the state.

According to police, the violence broke out after stones were allegedly pelted at the procession, leading to arson and vandalism in the area. The BJP had then alleged that Shakir Ali and Aparupa Poddar were behind the violence, accusing them of making provocative remarks.

Clashes had also taken place in Howrah, Dalkhola, Shibpur, and Serampore during Ram Navami that year.

The probe into the Rishra violence was handed over to the NIA on the orders of the Calcutta High Court in April 2023.

PTI adds: Six cases were filed across the state following the violence during the 2023 Ram Navami. One of the cases was registered at the Rishra police station and two others in the adjacent Serampore police station, sources said.

Over 50 suspects were arrested by state police and subsequently by the Central agency since it took over the investigation from the state police on April 27, that year, following a Calcutta High Court direction.

The suspects were slapped with appropriate sections of the BNS and the Explosive Substances Act.

Mamata loyalists being targeted: TMC MLA Kunal Ghosh

Protesting the arrest of councillor Shakir Ali in connection with the 2023 Rishra violence, TMC MLA Kunal Ghosh on Tuesday alleged that the police were selectively using coercive measures against leaders who have remained loyal to the Mamata Banerjee-led faction of the party.

“Police are not acting against those who are being coerced to join the rebel group of the party. Even if they are arrested, they are being granted bail,” he said.

“Aparupa Poddar (Ali’s wife) has remained a Mamata Banerjee loyalist, and she was trying to rejuvenate the party in her area. That’s why her husband was targeted,” he said.

The TMC had denied a Lok Sabha ticket to Aparupa Poddar for the 2024 parliamentary elections, following which the former MP publicly claimed she was dropped from the candidate list due to a lack of funds to contest the polls.

The BJP, though, maintained that while Ali’s involvement in the 2023 violence is hardly a secret, more heads are likely to roll in the case.

“It is public knowledge that the arrested suspect provoked people into committing the violence. He was acting with impunity under the protection of the previous TMC regime. But more leaders are involved. The investigating agency must identify and book those who had stalled the NIA probe for the past three years,” BJP spokesperson Debjit Sarkar said. PTI