India - West Bengal: 48 hours after communal riots, Kaliachak in Malda turns ghost town

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48 hours after communal riots, Kaliachak in Malda turns ghost town
On Tuesday, most residents of the locality, located about 23 km south-west of Malda town, chose to stay indoors and business establishments also remained shut.
Soudhriti Bhabani
Malda, January 6, 2016 | Posted by Bihu Ray

The trouble-torn Kaliachak police station area wore a deserted look even 48 hours after large-scale violence. On Tuesday, most residents of the locality, located about 23 km south-west of Malda town, chose to stay indoors and business establishments also remained shut. The situation continued to be tense with Section 144 imposed in the area since Sunday night.

"We have so far arrested 10 people in connection with the violence. We have deployed additional forces in the violence-hit pockets. They are also carrying out extensive flag marches in the area," Malda district police superintendent Prasun Banerjee told Mail Today. All the 10 accused have been sent to six-day police custody by a district court. Sources said over 120 heads of armed forces from the 4th battalion have been brought in as part of additional security arrangements in the area.

But the flip side of the Kaliachak rampage tells a different story. Security agency officials and police sources revealed that the motive behind the massive rally and subsequent attack on a police station was something else. CCTV footage of the attack at Kaliachak police station is now being examined to identify the people who actually carried out the act of violence and ransacked the barrack.

According to police sources, the entire incident was pre-planned and it was not a mere religious gathering by Muslims groups protesting against the hate speech of Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha leader Kamlesh Tiwari. A strong anti-Hindu sentiment in the locality, reportedly propagated by all three political parties-ruling Trinamool Congress, Congress and CPI(M)-turned into massive violence on January 3 in which the local Muslims turned hostile towards the state administration. In a fit of rage, they torched buses and police vehicles, ransacked government properties and set the Kaliachak police station on fire.

"The entire act of violence was carried out to terrorise the local administration and to take revenge against the police and security forces," a senior district police officer said. The inside story is that bordering areas like Baliadanga, Mothabari, Danga, Kaliachak and Mohabbatpur have become an epicentre of anti-national activities. Be it peddling of fake notes, illegal migration, arms factory or smuggling goods from across the border, these areas have always topped the chart. But the district police along with the help of BSF personnel had recently beefed up security in these areas, significantly bringing down the crime rate.

In various joint operations, the police and security agencies had seized many FICN (Fake Indian currency notes) consignments that came to this side of the border through the help of locals, but could not be distributed in other parts of the country. The local police and BSF personnel had prepared a detailed list of suspects who were involved in the fake notes racket in the border belt and were keeping an eye on their movements. This is said to have infuriated a section of Muslims in the region who were allegedly involved in anti-national activities.

During the rampage, goons had set the Kaliachak police station afire reportedly with the intention to destroy all criminal records. They had also attacked the block development office and ransacked as many as six houses of Hindu residents, besides setting ablaze over 35 vehicles. "We suspect some anti-national elements may also be involved in the act. We need to identify them from the CCTV footage," a police source said. The NIA, which is probing a pan-India fake notes racket, recently developed a strategy to nab the members of different modules in Malda. The development came following recent arrests of some ISI operatives with Malda links.