Image used for representative purpose only.
| Photo Credit: ANI
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday conducted searches at the residence of former Trinamool Congress MLA Saokat Molla in Maukhali, South 24 Parganas district, in connection with a bomb blast in Bhangar ahead of the recent West Bengal Assembly elections.
A senior police officer from the Bhangar subdivision confirmed the development, saying an NIA team, accompanied by Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel and local police, reached Mr. Molla’s residence around 7 a.m.
Officials said the searches were still on. Mr. Molla was reportedly not present at his residence when the team arrived. NIA officials briefly questioned his wife and two children and also visited a cafe run by his son Imran.
Many local residents, meanwhile, have also alleged that several such properties and lands have been illegally occupied by Mr. Molla over the years. “This cafe was built on a 70 bigha land at the bank of the Matla river. Mr. Molla’s brother is also building a multi-storey house at the riverbank. There are many such shops and buildings have been occupied by Molla family members illegally over the years — many of them are government properties,” a resident told the reporters in Maukhali’s Jeebantala area where the cafe is located.
The agency also carried out searches at several locations in Bamunia village, where the blast had occurred.
Mr. Molla represented the Canning Purba Assembly constituency and won elections in 2016 and 2021. He contested the recent Assembly election from Bhangar but lost to Indian Secular Front (ISF) leader Naushad Siddiqui.
Ahead of the Assembly polls, a blast in the area on March 19 killed one person and injured three others while crude bombs were allegedly being manufactured. Following the incident, police recovered at least 79 crude bombs and other explosive materials.
The explosives were reportedly stored by unidentified persons in an abandoned house near a burial ground in Majherhat (Poilepara) village.
A First Information Report was registered at the Uttar Kashipur police station under the Bhangar division. The case was subsequently transferred to the NIA in April, following directions from the Union Home Ministry, after which the agency registered a fresh FIR.
The NIA had earlier arrested local TMC leader Ahidul Islam for his alleged role as a co-conspirator in the manufacture of the bombs.
Other arrests
In a separate development, the Regent Park police in Kolkata arrested Biswajit Mondal, a Trinamool Congress councillor from Ward No. 114 of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, in connection with an alleged incident of harassment and assault of a woman in 2024.
Another Trinamool leader Sahidul Mian was arrested from Mathabhanga in Cooch Behar district. He was found hiding under a cot at his residence when angry villagers had surrounded his residence. The allegations against the arrested involve taking cut money for giving benefit of government schemes.
Kolkata-based Paritosh Dutta was also arrested by the police on Thursday after they recovered two suitcases containing termite-infested cash and a firearm from the union room of Surendranath College on Tuesday. Mr. Dutta is considered to be a close aide to Trinamool Congress leader Debasish Banerjee, who was also named in the FIR of the case.
Hundreds of local level Trinamool leaders and former and sitting MLAs have been arrested after the change of regime in West Bengal on allegations of corruption and extortion.
Published – June 04, 2026 11:05 am IST
