The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 14, conducted raids at multiple locations in West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali in connection with an alleged land-grabbing case against arrested expelled TMC MLA Sheikh Shahjahan.
The raids are still underway in close coordination with central security forces. The places being raided include the residential places of suspects linked to the case.
The agency conducted these raids days after Shahjahan was arrested. Shahjahan, accused of sexual violence and land grab in Sandeshkhali village, was arrested on February 29 morning by West Bengal Police from a house in Minakhan in North 24 Parganas district in the state where he was hiding.
On February 23, the ED had also raided at nearly half a dozen locations in West Bengal in the same land-grabbing case.
As per agency sources, these raids are part of a new Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) linked with Shahjahan in land grabbing matters. In January, the federal agency also conducted two separate raids on multiple locations on different dates in connection with the Public Distribution System (PDS) scam case, another case against Shahjahan.
On one similar search operation conducted on January 5, the ED officials were attacked while on their way to carry out raids at Shahjahan and other TMC leader Shankar Adhya’s residences in the North 24 Parganas district. Nearly 200 locals, believed to be supporters of the TMC leader, encircled the officials and armed paramilitary forces then, preventing them from raiding Shahjahan’s residence. Two ED officials were injured in the incident.
The incident led to a political blame game with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders criticising state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s government raising questions over the law and order situation, while the TMC blamed the agency for provoking the locals.
The incident led the Ministry of Home Affairs to seek a detailed report from the West Bengal government regarding the attacks.
Prior to his arrest, Shahjahan continued to evade capture, with both state police and Central agencies unable to locate him. Recently, the Calcutta High Court instructed a collaborative Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and West Bengal Police to investigate an assault on Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials in Sandeshkhali.
(with inputs from ANI)
