KOLKATA: A special court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday granted “default bail” to 15 of the 35 accused in connection with the violence that erupted at Beldanga in West Bengal’s minority-dominated Murshidabad district earlier this year.
The default bail was granted to these 15 accused persons after the investigating agency failed to submit a charge sheet against them within 90 days from the day of their arrest. However, the court had imposed certain conditions for granting the default bail.
To recall, violence and riot-like situations surfaced at Beldanga earlier this year over the death of a migrant worker from the region in neighbouring Jharkhand. The tension flared up after the body of the migrant worker reached Beldanga from Jharkhand.
The local protesters alleged that the migrant worker was lynched in Jharkhand because of religious and linguistic reasons. The protests started with the blockade of railways and roads at Beldanga.
When the police tried to lift the blockade, the protesters set up an ambush with the security personnel. Some journalists were also attacked by the protesters, some of whom got severely injured.