NIA raids premises linked to Bihar-based businessman in Bengal’s Durgapur

Kolkata: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) was conducting a raid and search operation on Monday at the residence of a Bihar-based businessman at the industrial-cum-steel township of Durgapur in West Burdwan district of West Bengal. The person at whose residence the operation is being conducted has been identified as Ghulam Raza. A six-member NIA team is reported to be conducting the operation at Raza’s residence. One of the members of the NIA team is a woman. A huge police contingent of Asansol-Durgapur Police Commissariat is accompanying the NIA team. However, the NIA officials have so far remained tight-lipped over the purpose with which the raid and search operation was being conducted at Raza’s residence. However, it is learnt that Raza, an original resident of Muzaffarpur in Bihar, a businessman by profession, shifted and got settled at Durgapur with his wife and two sons. He purchased a house, which is adjacent to the Durgapur Steel Plant, and started residing there with his family. It is further learnt that Raza was a frequent traveller and often used to make overseas trips reportedly for business purposes. His neighbours told the media persons that the members of the family preferred to stay in a secluded manner instead of interacting with the local people. More details about the raid are awaited. In the recent past, the NIA sleuths have increased their activities in West Bengal about various cases which the central agency is investigating. Last week, the NIA sleuths recovered a large cache of explosives, including 20 bags of ammonium nitrate and multiple detonators, during a raid in the Nalhati area of West Bengal’s Birbhum district, and arrested one suspect in connection with the case. Earlier this month, the NIA also started investigating the case of a blast at a residence at Rajarhat in the northern outskirts of Kolkata and arrested a total of three persons. Last week, the West Bengal cabinet led by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari cleared a proposal for setting up an NIA Police Station in Kolkata. The work for setting up the police station will commence shortly, the state municipal affairs and urban development minister, Agnimitra Paul, informed media persons last week. The eastern regional headquarters of the central investigative agency is located in Salt Lake in the northern outskirts of Kolkata, and all operations of the agency are currently managed from there. However, following the increase in workload for the NIA due to the increasing number of cases in West Bengal, a proposal has now been adopted by the state cabinet to establish a separate NIA police station in the state.