NIA SET TO JOIN SANDESHKHALI ARMS HAUL INVESTIGATION

TMC shot off a letter to the CEC alleging that CBI's actions were intended to smear the party's reputation amid the elections.

- SUPROTIM MUKHERJEE

A day after a CBI and NSG search in Sandeshkhali un- earthed a cache of foreignmade arms, ammunition and unidentified explosives from the house of a close relative of a Sheikh Shahjahan aide, the Trinamool Congress, led by supremo Mamata Banerjee, blamed the BJP for the operation “to get advantage in the Lok Sabha elections”. The BJP pointed to the series of bomb blasts in West Bengal and demanded the arrest of Mamata Banerjee and the banning of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) as “an extremist organisation like the SIMI and the PFI”.

Meanwhile, agency sources said that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) would be joining the probe after an FIR is filed. The CBI, which was probing the attack on ED officials by Sheikh Shahjahan’s associates on January 5, is also enlarging its ambit to investigate how arms and ammunition reached Sandeshkhali.

Mamata Banerjee wrote on X: “After the second phase of the LS election, the BJP has spiralled into a state of panic. They’re using every last ounce of their money and muscle power to sabotage the polls.”

The Trinamool Congress shot off a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner alleging that the CBI’s actions were intended to smear the party’s reputation amid the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.