The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal has approached the Supreme Court challenging the decision of the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday, directing the state police to transfer the investigation into the attack against officials of the Enforcement Directorate in Sandeshkhali to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The development came within hours of the high court’s order that directed the transfer of the case to the CBI and also ordered the police to hand over the custody of prime accused Shahjahan Sheikh, a TMC leader, to the central probe agency by 4.30 PM today.
Representing the Bengal government, senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Jaideep Gupta and Gopal Sankaranarayanan mentioned the plea seeking the intervention of the top court before a bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna today. The judge directed that the papers be placed before Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, reported Live Law.
In its order directing a CBI probe into the matter earlier today, the Calcutta HC dismissed an earlier decision to form an SIT comprising officials of the state police and ordered that all relevant papers and Sheikh’s custody be handed over to the CBI. In its order, the HC bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya noted the need for a fair and unbiased investigation, particularly due to the accused’s alleged political influence and connections within the ruling party.
“The accused who has been apprehended on February 29, 2024 after being on the run for more than 50 days is not an ordinary citizen. He is an elected representative of the public, holding the highest office in a Zilla Parishad, he was fielded as the candidate at the elections held for the said post by the political party which is ruling dispensation. Thus, it has become imperative and absolutely necessary for doing complete justice and enforcing the fundamental rights of the public in general and the public of the locality that the cases be transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation for investigation and to proceed further,” the court noted in its order.
The CBI had moved an application before the Calcutta HC arguing that the police custody of Sheikh would defeat the purpose of the investigation, which involved the accused orchestrating an assault on members of the ED. The situation deteriorated after the attack on ED officers in Sandeshkhali with widespread reports of sexual assault and land grabbing being attributed to Shahjahan and his followers, belonging to the Trinamool Congress.
The HC is separately hearing a suo moto matter regarding allegations of land-grabbing and sexual assault against women in Sandeshkhali involving Sheikh.