Kolkata, April 10 (IANS): The Trinamool Congress leaders from West Bengals's East Midnapore district, who were issued notices by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for interrogation in connection with the 2022 Bhupatinagar blast case, on Wednesday approached the Calcutta High Court challenging the summons.

Of the eight ruling party leaders, who are under the scanner of the NIA sleuths in the blast case, two namely Balai Charan Patra and Monobrata Jana, are already under NIA custody. Three others namely Manab Kumar Parua, Subir Maity and Nobo Kumar Panda have been issued notices by the central agency for interrogation.

The counsel for the three Trinamool Congress leaders on Wednesday approached the single-judge bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh seeking a shield against any coercive action by NIA against their clients.

However, instead of passing any order on the matter, Justice Ghosh sought the case diary of the NIA. The next hearing on the matter is scheduled for April 17.

A total of eight Trinamool Congress leaders have been under the NIA scanner for quite some time in the Bhupatinagar blast. Besides the two already arrested and the three being issued notices for interrogation, the other three ruling party leaders under the scanner are Uttam Maity, Milan Burman and Shiboprasad Gayen.

Since NIA took over the investigation in June 2023 following an order of the Calcutta High Court, they have issued summons of interrogation to each of these eight local ruling party leaders while all have ignored these summons.