BJP hails HC order on Ram Navami violence; NIA must act impartially, says TMC

Kolkata: The BJP on Thursday welcomed the Calcutta High Court order directing the NIA to probe into the violence during Ram Navami in West Bengal, while the ruling TMC stated that the central agency must act "impartially" and should not try to protect the opposition party's goons involved in the clash.

Hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP and others, the high court earlier in the day directed transfer of the investigation into violence at Shibpur in Howrah and Rishra in Hooghly district to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) from the West Bengal Police.

The petitioners sought an NIA probe as, they alleged, bombs exploded during the violence.

"We have full respect for the judiciary. We will not comment on the court order. But we will like to say that the NIA must act impartially and not work only to protect the BJP goons involved in the violence. We have seen how central agencies like CBI and ED are only busy implicating TMC leaders (in various cases)," TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said.

The West Bengal BJP welcomed the court order and said only the NIA investigation could reveal the truth.

Clashes broke out between two groups at Shibpur area of Howrah during Ram Navami festivities on March 30, during which several vehicles were torched and shops were ransacked. Violence was also reported on April 2 evening during a procession as part of the festival at Rishra.

A youth from Bihar's Munger was arrested on the charge of carrying a firearm during a Ram Navami procession in Howrah, whom the TMC claimed was a BJP supporter.

The court directed the state police to transfer all records and CCTV footage relating to the matter to the central agency within two weeks.