BJP's fact-finding team detained in violence-hit Malda

A three-member BJP team was to meet victims of Kaliachak and assess what happened and why

A three-member fact-finding team of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who were going to visit the violence-hit areas of Malda district in West Bengal, has been detained at the Malda Railway Station.

Before being detained, committee chairman S.S. Ahluwalia said, "West Bengal Chief Minister can say anything. Without coming here, if she commented, it's up to her."

He further said that the team was there to meet the victims of Kaliachak and do the assessment of what exactly happened and why it happened.

The party had formed this committee in regard to the Malda incident.

The BJP had earlier dismissed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's claims about the Malda violence not being a 'communal incident' and accused her of protecting her party goons involved in the smuggling of fake currency and drugs.

"It is (an) utter lie that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is speaking that the Malda incident was a clash between the BSF and locals," BJP leader Siddharthnath Singh said. 

However, Banerjee has maintained that there was no communal tension in the state.

She also claimed that Maoist violence has come down in West Bengal.