Amid the tussle between the West Bengal government and Centre which is at its peak since the attack on BJP chief JP Nadda’s convoy, the Supreme Court on Friday granted  interim protection to five BJP leaders in criminal cases lodged against them in connection with the attacks.

These five leaders include Mukul Roy and MPs Kailash Vijayvargiya.

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Mukul Roy and other leaders from the BJP Bengal unit had approached the top court alleging witch-hunt by the West Bengal Police at the behest of ruling Trinamool Congress Party.

The petitioners included BJP leaders Arjun Singh, Kailash Vijayvargiya, Pawan Singh, Sourav Singh and Kabir Shankar Bose.

They had sought transfer of all cases registered against them by West Bengal police to any other “independent” investigating agency.

In a fresh development, the Union Home Ministry accepted the West Bengal government’s proposal for a virtual meeting after the state expressed reluctance to send its officials to New Delhi.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had summoned West Bengal chief secretary Alapan Banerjee and DGP Virendra to New Delhi on December 14 regarding the law and order situation in the state after JP Nadda’s convoy was attacked.

However, both Banerjee and Virendra asked to be excused. In an official letter to Ajay Bhalla, the Home Secretary, Bengal Chief Secretary said that the state government “is already addressing this issue with utmost seriousness”.

Last evening, the Union Home Secretary has written to the Bengal government asking the state’s Chief Secretary and police chief to attend a meeting at 5.30 pm today.

However, in reply, the state government has suggested a video conference due to the pandemic.

The three officers – Bholanath Pandey (SP, Diamond Harbour), Praveen Tripathi (DIG, Presidency Range) and Rajeev Mishra (ADG, South Bengal) – had already come under the heat of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) after Nadda’s convoy came under violent attack.

On his way to Diamond Harbour to attend a party event, Nadda’s motorcade was subjected to stone pelting on December 10. The BJP national president was on a two-day tour of the poll-bound state on Wednesday and Thursday last week.