The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which took over the probe into the violence in West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali following an order by the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday, failed to get the custody of Trinamool Congress leader Shahjahan Sheikh, the key accused.
A CBI team, accompanied by CRPF personnel, waited for nearly two hours at the headquarters of the West Bengal CID at Bhawani Bhawan to take custody of Sheikh.
Earlier in the day, the high court had ordered the transfer of the probe into the violence in Sandeshkhali from the state police to the CBI. The high court also handed over the custody of Sheikh, who was arrested by the state police on February 29 on charges of land grabbing and sexual atrocities on women, to the central agency.
A division bench headed by Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam ordered that the directions be complied with by 4.30 pm on Tuesday. On January 15, a team of the Enforcement Directorate officials, which had arrived in Sandeshkhali to search the premises of Sheikh in a ration scam case, was attacked and chased away by a mob allegedly affiliated to the TMC leader.
Sheikh had been on the run for more than a month following the incident, even as several women in the village took to the streets alleging that the TMC leader and his followers had illegally stolen their land and had been sexually abusing them.
Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday said it has attached property worth Rs 12.78 crore belonging to suspended Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Sheikh Shahjahan in a money laundering case. Properties including bank deposits, an apartment, and agricultural and fishery land belonging to Shahjahan were attached by the probe agency.
“Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Kolkata has provisionally attached movable and immovable assets worth Rs.12.78 Crore under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 in the ongoing investigations against Shahjahan Seikh and others,” the ED said in a statement.
