The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday ordered the West Bengal Police to hand over Shahjahan Sheikh, the accused in the Sandeshkhali case, to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) by 4.30 pm.
Sheikh is a key accused in multiple complaints of extortion, land grab and sexual assault.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya stated that the CBI will take over the case related to the attack on Enforcement Directorate officers in Sandeshkhali on January 5.
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The bench also set aside an earlier order setting up a special investigative team – of CBI and state police officials – and transferred the case to the central agency.
Both the Enforcement Directorate and the state moved separate challenges to that order; the ED wanted the case to be given to the CBI only, while the state wanted the police to handle the probe.
Shahjahan Sheikh, who was on the run since January 5 when a team of Enforcement Directorate officials were attacked by a mob of his supporters while en route to conduct raids, was arrested on February 29. After Shahjahan’s disappearance, he and his aides were accused of sexual harassment and land grab by several women in Sandeshkhali.
Following his arrest, the Trinamool Congress suspended Shahjahan Sheikh for six years.
Also Read: Sandeshkhali unrest: TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh sent to 10-day police custody
The Shahjahan-Sandeshkhali row was the focus of a sharp attack by Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he was in Bengal last week. Modi also accused the Trinamool of shielding its former member and slammed Mamata Banerjee for valuing “some people” over the suffering of women.
Referring to the party’s ‘Maa, Maati, Manush’ (Mother, Land, and People) slogan, he declared, “What has been done to women in Sandeshkhali by Trinamool… has made the country angry.”