Armed man storms into Malda school, holds 80 students and teacher hostage for an hour

MALDA: A man brandishing a 9mm pistol, two bottles of acid and with a knife tied to his ankle, stormed into a government school in West Bengal's Malda on Wednesday morning and held 80 Class VII pupils and their teacher hostage for nearly an hour before an unarmed police officer was able to overpower him and take him into custody.
Deb Kumar Ballav, 44, while threatening the children and their teacher at gunpoint, insisted that the media record his statement so that his estranged wife and son be brought back to him. It was while reporters were recording his statement that DSP Azharuddin Khan, making use of the distraction, lunged at him and wrestled him to the ground.
The terrified students and their teacher were safely brought out, even while the officer was locked in a grapple with Ballav.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee praised the “presence of mind” shown by the police, teachers, students and even journalists for preventing “a big disaster”, saying they had “defused a hostage situation".
She also smelt a “conspiracy”, wondering what gave Ballav the idea to take hostages in the first place. She has ordered the police to probe the matter thoroughly, saying she suspected the accused would take recourse in an “insanity plea” to wriggle out of the charges.
Sources said Ballav had a criminal past. In June 2022, he had been arrested for a Facebook post threatening police, the media and the Trinamool Congress with guns and bombs. A farmer by profession, who stays in Nimua village, he is now out on bail.
Watch West Bengal: Gunman arrested for holding school students hostage in Malda