Malda is known for its widespread opium farming and the BSF had recently tightened the noose around those growing opium in this area. The opium mafia had used the local Muslim population inorder to escape from the BSF. The Hindu activists in the area felt that this was some kind of a Muslim protest which is why the local police station was burnt and the people were trying to assert their dominance in the name of religion. But it was the Opium Mafia that actually tried to create a religious divide and took advantage of the crowd and burnt all records in the local thana at Kaliachak in Malda.