Central team to probe Malda violence: Reports

New Delhi/Kolkata: Reports said on Wednesday that the Central government is planning to send a team of officials to Malda to look into the mob violence that rocked the district recently.

Opposition parties have alleged that the Malda violence was a result of communal tension in the district; the state government of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has, however, denied that.

Banerjee said the incident was a clash between Border Security Force personnel and locals and had no communal angle to it.

The incident came just months before the crucial Assembly Elections and the Trinamool Congress government has alleged that opposition parties are trying to derive political mileage from it.

NDTV news channel reported that the Central team is likely to look into allegations that lawmakers and political activists played a role in the violence in which more than a lakh-strong crowd torched a police station and BSF vehicles.

A day after a three-member fact-finding team of the BJP was sent back from Malda by state authorities, a party delegation met Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday to demand a high-level probe into the violence.

BJP leaders have alleged that Trinamool Congress and Janata Dal (United) workers were involved in the Malda violence.

Specifically, JD(U) Rajya Sabha MP Ghulam Rasool has been accused of instigating the mob.

Rasool has been alleged to have links with a Muslit organisation called Idra-e-Sharia, which had called the march that turned violent in Malda.

The march was called to protest against a Hindu right-wing leader's controversial remarks on Prophet Mohammad in Uttar Pradesh recently.