According to the order: “The central government hereby appoints advocates as special public prosecutors for conducting matters on behalf of the National Investigation Agency…before courts for a period of three years.” SPPs will appear before special NIA courts and high courts. The notification also named SPPs for Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Madras, Meghalaya among others.
While five SPPs have been named for West Bengal, three have been appointed for NIA’s special court and high court in Kolkata. The agency is probing as many as 18 cases related to bomb blasts, FICN seizures, Islamic State and Al-Qaeda activities in West Bengal.
NIA team was attacked in West Bengal’s East Medinipur district on Saturday when it was conducting searches to arrest two key conspirators – Balai Charan Maity and Manobrata Jana – for their alleged involvement in the December 2022 blast in which three persons were killed.
West Bengal Police had registered an FIR on December 3, 2022, against the three killed in the explosion but the provisions of the Explosive Substances Act were not applied. Later, a writ petition was filed before Calcutta High Court for invoking the relevant sections of the Act and transferring the case to NIA, which took over it on June 4, 2023, and re-registered the case in Delhi under various sections of the law, including the Explosive Substances Act, on the orders of the high court.
NIA investigation alleged involvement of several people in the case, including the arrested accused, Manobrata Jana of Naruabila village and Balai Charan Maity of Ninaruya Analberia. The agency alleged that the two men actively participated in the conspiracy to make crude bombs and had extended support for the same. The arrested duo was produced before the special NIA court in Kolkata, according to NIA’s statement.Three persons were killed in the explosion in the house of one Rajkumar Manna in Naruabilla village. Manna himself was seriously injured in the blast, along with Biswajit Gayen and Buddhadeb Manna. All three succumbed to their injuries later.
