Kolkata: Mofakkarul Islam, the mastermind behind the harassment of judicial adjudication officers at Kaliachak in West Bengal’s Malda district, was arrested at Bagdogra airport in Darjeeling district on Friday while trying to escape from the state.
An advocate by profession, Islam has been actively associated with Asaduddin Owaisi-founded All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).
An arrest warrant was issued against Mofakkerul on Thursday on the orders of the Supreme Court. Since then, the police had been searching for him in various places.
Since Thursday, he had also been unreachable on his mobile phone.
An original resident of Porsa Hatkhola in Itahar of North Dinajpur district, Islam is a practising advocate both in the Raiganj District Court in the same district as well as the Calcutta High Court.
For the last few years, he has been residing in Kolkata mainly along with his wife and children. Before the 2021 Assembly elections, he joined AIMIM and also contested as its candidate from the Itahar seat. However, he was not only defeated, but his security deposit was also forfeited.
On Wednesday night, when the harassment of the judicial officers took place, a person was seen addressing an agitated mob at Kaliachak, which had kept the judicial officer hostage for around seven hours.
Later, the person, seen addressing the mob and making provocative statements, was identified as Islam. An arrest warrant was issued against him, and finally, he was arrested at the airport in the morning.
With the arrest of Islam, the total number of arrests in the matter has increased to 19. Among the other 18 arrested, one is the All India Secular Front (AISF) candidate from Mothabari Assembly constituency in Malda district, Maulana Shahjahan Ali.
On Wednesday, seven judicial officers, including three women, were held hostage inside a block office at Kaliachak in Malda district by a group of voters whose names had been deleted during the process of judicial adjudication under the “logical discrepancy” category.
At around 1 a.m. on Thursday, a large police contingent led by senior district officials reached the spot, dispersed the protesters, rescued the judicial officers, and escorted them to a safe location. They had been gheraoed for around nine hours. There were also reports that, even while being shifted to a safe location after their rescue, an attempt was made to attack the convoy.
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