Who Is Mofakkerul Islam? Man Arrested In Connection With Malda Hostage Case

A leader from Asaduddin's Owaisi's All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), Mofakkerul Islam, alleged to be behind the dramatic hostage situation in Bengal's Malda district was arrested from Bagdogra airport in Darjeeling district on Friday while trying to escape from the state.

The arrest was made by the West Bengal Criminal Investigation Department or CID.

A resident of North Dinajpur, Mofakerrul Islam, a practising lawyer, had fought the 2021 elections from Itahar Assembly constituency on an AIMIM ticket. 

"He has 3 million followers on social media page and he is an advocate at the Calcutta High Court. He fought elections from his hometown on an AIMIM ticket," Imran Solanki, AIMIM's West Bengal chief told NDTV. 

"He was very active in raising voice against issues like Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC), Special Intensive Revision (SIR) for the Muslims. AIMIM gave him a ticket after seeing his popularity due to the work he did and the way he addressed the crowd," he added. 

Islam was also made the North Zone in charge by the AIMIM. Lately he has been inactive and wasn't given any responsibility after AIMIM's Bengal chief took charge in 2025.

At least three FIRs were registered by Malda Police against the lawyer whose video of standing on the bonnet of a vehicle and addressing the protesters who had held seven judicial officers hostage in Malda. 

On Wednesday, seven judicial officers, including three women, were held hostage inside a block office at Kaliachak in Malda district by a group of voters whose names had been deleted during the process of judicial adjudication under the "logical discrepancy" category.

At around 1 am on Thursday, a large police contingent led by senior district officials reached the spot, dispersed the protesters, rescued the judicial officers, and escorted them to a safe location. The standoff lasted nearly nine hours. 

Akramul Bagani, who has been running a YouTube portal named Insaf Bangla since 2014, was the other person arrested by the CID. 

With over 4,000 videos and six lakh and seventy thousand subscribers, he is accused of producing anti-BJP and anti-Hindu content on Insaf Bangla YouTube channel. 

Over the past few years, he became acquainted with Mofakkerul Islam. Since then, the two have traveled together to various places. 

A few days ago, a photo of the two together was found from a location in Kerala. Besides this, there have been reports of them traveling multiple times to areas such as Malda and Murshidabad. With links to Kerala emerging, the police have also begun probing links with banned outfit Popular Front of India (PFI), which had a strong presence in Malda and Murshidabad districts.

Earlier today, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee blamed the AIMIM for the gherao of judicial officers in Malda district and accused the Congress and the BJP of instigation.

"The BJP loaned him (the accused) from the AIMIM and brought him here," she alleged, while addressing an election rally at Harirampur in Dakshin Dinajpur district.