West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose on Friday issued summons to the Home Secretary and the Director General of Police (DGP) following the attacks on the Enforcement Directorate (ED) earlier in the day. He termed the attack on members of the central probe agency team in North 24 Parganas district “ghastly”.
Addressing the media, Bose condemned the incident and stressed the need for a civilised government to curb barbaric acts and vandalism in a democracy.
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“It is a ghastly incident. It is alarming and deplorable. It is the duty of a civilised government to stop barbarism and vandalism in a democracy. If a government fails in its basic duty, then the Constitution of India will take its course. I reserve all my constitutional options for appropriate action. This pre-election violence should find an early end, and this is the beginning of that end,” he said, according to ANI.
The previous night, a team of ED sleuths was attacked and their cars were destroyed in Sandeshkhali village, North 24 Parganas. According to an official from the agency, this occurred during a raid on the homes of block-level leaders of the ruling Trinamool Congress in connection with a suspected ration scam case.
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In connection with the suspected ration fraud, the ED raided the homes of former Bongaon Municipality Chairman Shankar Adhya in Bangaon and TMC politician Sheikh Shahjahan.
Sheikh Shahjahan is the Block President of Sandeshkhali 1 and the Fisheries and Animal Resources Officer of North 24 Parganas Zilla Parishad. During the encounter, two ED officers were injured.
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A member of the raiding ED team said, “Eight people came to the spot. We three moved from the incident spot …they attacked us.” However, the TMC MP Santanu Sen alleged that the officials of the federal agency ‘provoked’ the locals which led to a counter-reaction from the people.
“The officers of the Central investigation agency surrounded by the Central forces provoked the local people. That’s why there were counter-reactions continuously,” he said.
Sen further commented on the frustration among the populace due to the actions taken by central agencies, which are being ‘monitored from Delhi’.
“The real fact is the people of India are frustrated watching this deep-rooted conspiracy engineered and monitored from Delhi daily and that too in the case of TMC in West Bengal…On the contrary, the person who’s posting all this on social media is topping the list of corruption”, he said.