The officials of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) were allegedly attacked during a raid at a Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader’s residence in West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali on Friday.

The ED team was attacked as it started a raid at Trinamool leader Shah Jahan Sheikh’s residence in connection with an alleged ration distribution scam.

The Enforcement Directorate officials and the central armed paramilitary forces were surrounded by more than 200 locals, India Today reported.

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Two officials of the agency sustained injuries in the incident. The mob also vandalised the vehicles they came in, ANI reported.

TMC says ‘effect of provocation’

Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Kunal Ghosh on Friday said that the attack on the team of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) at Sandeshkhali in the North 24 Parganas district was an “effect of provocation”.

“What happened in Sandeskhali was an effect of provocation. In West Bengal, central agencies and forces on the instructions of the BJP are going to the residence of one or the other TMC leader or workers to harass, spread negative statements and provoke people. We are receiving such allegations and that’s what happened in Sandeshkhali,” Ghosh said.

He further said that the residence of BJP West Bengal chief Suvendu Adhikari, once branded as a ‘thief” by his own party was not raided.

BJP lashes out

Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari took to the microblogging site X and said that the law and order situation in West Bengal is in “shambles”. In his post, he urged the Union Home Minister and other concerned authorities to take “cognisance of this grave situation and take appropriate actions to crush this anarchy”.

Reacting on the attack, West Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar said, “There are complaints and corruption charges against all of them. It is natural that ED will take action. It is quite obvious. The attack on ED in West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali shows what the Rohingya are doing to the law and order in the state…”

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Condemning the incident, former West Bengal BJP President Rahul Sinha said, “Shahjahan Sheikh is a don of the Sandeshkhali area. He is also a TMC leader. There are a lot of murder cases against him. The police do not take any action because he is a TMC leader…We condemn the incident and action should be taken…”