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Kolkata: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) took up almost simultaneous searches at the premises associated with three rights activists and researchers across Bengal early this morning. The search operations, which activists said began around 4.30 am, have raised concern among civil liberties groups over what they described as a widening attempt to intimidate organisers of people’s movements in the state.

All three activists were involved in grassroots organising, anti-displacement campaigns, and student activism. The NIA searches attempt to link them to a 2022 Ranchi case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Indian Penal Code, concerning the alleged revival of the Maoist movement in eastern India.

The raids spanned across Kolkata and neighbouring districts, focusing on vocal critics of Special Intensive Revision-related disenfranchisement.

Among those targeted was scholar Jhelum Roy, a prominent activist with the organisation Feminine in Resistance and a primary organiser of the sit-in at Kolkata’s Park Circus against the arbitrary deletions under........

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