'Why did they raid at midnight'?: Didi lashes out at NIA post attack

• WB CM Mamata Banerjee lashes out at NIA questioning the timing of probe into Medinipur blast case
• Blames officials for aggression to which the villagers reacted
• Further questions legality of midnight raids, stating villagers reacted predictably to strangers' unannounced visit

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Saturday backfired on NIA questioning the timing of the probe into the Medinipur blast case. On early Saturday morning a NIA team was attacked at Bhupatinagar on its way to Kolkata. 

Mamata blamed NIA officials of attacking villagers at Bhupatinagar in East Midnapore district.

"The attack was not carried out by women of Bhupatinagar, it was by the National Investigation Agency (NIA)," she said at an election rally in South Dinajpur district's Balurghat.
"Will the women sit back if they are attacked?" she said, adding that they had only protested after NIA officials went to some of their houses over the December 2022 incident.

Moreover, she criticized the NIA's decision to conduct raids at midnight, saying that locals reacted predictably to strangers visiting at such an hour. "Why did they raid at midnight? Did they have police permission? Locals reacted in the way they would have if any other stranger had visited the place at midnight," she said.

Mamata's remark comes hours after the attack in Bhupatinagar where NIA team had gone to investigate a 2022 bomb blast case.