NIA Targets Cyber Instigation Behind Murshidabad Violence
NIA probes cyber instigation in Murshidabad violence over misleading posts.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has intensified its probe into the violence that rocked the Beldanga area of Murshidabad district in January, focusing on a possible angle of cyber instigation. The unrest erupted following the death of a migrant worker from West Bengal in neighbouring Jharkhand, an incident that authorities there had officially classified as a suicide.
According to sources, NIA officials believe that misleading social media posts played a significant role in provoking local residents by projecting the suicide as a case of murder. These online narratives, investigators suspect, may have inflamed emotions and led sections of the local population to resort to violence.
As part of the investigation, NIA teams have visited the cyber-crime police station in Baharampur to collect data related to suspicious social media activity. Officials have gathered digital footprints of several accounts that circulated controversial messages shortly before the violence broke out and are now analysing them in detail.
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Investigators are also examining whether the posts were part of an organised effort with vested interests aimed at spreading unrest in West Bengal. The probe seeks to establish whether simmering local sentiments were deliberately fuelled through online misinformation following the migrant worker’s death.
Violent protests erupted in Beldanga on January 16, with large groups blocking railway tracks and National Highway 12 for several hours. Protesters also allegedly attacked police personnel and members of the media, leading to widespread disruption of traffic and public services over two consecutive days.
Following the incident, a public interest litigation was filed in the Calcutta High Court seeking deployment of central forces and an NIA investigation. The court granted the Union government the liberty to order a probe, after which the Ministry of Home Affairs formally authorised the NIA to take over the investigation into the violence and related conspiracy.
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