Bengal polls: ADM served show-cause notice over Malda judicial officers 'hostage' episode

NEW DELHI: The District Magistrate (DM) of West Bengal's Malda issued a show-cause announcement to the Additional District Magistrate (Law and Order) aft 7 judicial officers, including 3 women, were gheraoed connected April 1. The show-cause announcement dated April 4 was served to ADM Shaikh Ansar Ahmad implicit a "serious lapse successful work and nonaccomplishment to study crushed concern to higher authorization connected 1st April 2026, regarding the information of judicial officers astatine Kaliachak." The announcement mentioned that the ADM's progressive connection with the Sub-Divisional Officer and the Block Development Officer (BDO) established that helium was "fully alert of the developments unfolding connected the crushed and cannot assertion ignorance of the prevailing situation." The announcement accused Ahmad of failing to pass the gravity of the concern to the higher authorization during the captious play betwixt 3:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. connected the incidental day. "A play of 5 continuous hours during which the higher medication was near without immoderate field-level input from the designated officer, thereby severely compromising the quality of the medication to instrumentality timely preventive oregon remedial measures," it read.

The DM sought a written mentation with the reasons for "failure to pass the gravity of the crushed concern to the higher authority," steps taken by him to undertake his responsibilities of tract coordination and escalation, and immoderate different facts oregon circumstances connected record.A large governmental tempest erupted successful poll-bound West Bengal aft the judicial officers were held hostage for respective hours earlier being rescued by constabulary amid fierce absorption by a radical of voters, who claimed their names had been deleted from the electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.The Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of the incidental and directed the Election Commission (ECI) to bid a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) oregon the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said helium himself monitored the incidental till 2 am.The ECI subsequently handed implicit the probe to the NIA, the cardinal bureau that investigates terrorism-related cases.On Saturday, an NIA squad visited the bureau of the Malda Superintendent of Police (SP) and aboriginal investigated the BDO's bureau successful Kaliachowk, Malda.Both the absorption BJP and the ruling TMC person accused each other, sparking a governmental enactment up of the polling for the West Bengal Assembly elections connected April 23 and 29.The counting of votes for each 294 constituencies is acceptable for May 4.(With ANI inputs)