The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday, March 6, directed the West Bengal government to transfer the probe into the attack on the Enforcement Directorate officials case in Sandeshkhali to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The court also directed the state police to hand over suspended TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh to the CBI by 4:15 pm today.
The court observed that the state police had played hide and seek in the matter. The accused is a highly political influencer.
Earlier in the day, the CBI has registered two more FIRs in the case when ED officials were attacked by a mob in Sandeshkhali where they had gone to conduct raids on January 5, officials said.
On the orders of the court, the CBI has now taken over investigation in three cases - an alleged attack on ED officers by a mob on the complaint by its officers, allegations against ED officials levelled by the guard of suspended TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh and a suo motu case registered by Nazat police station about the attack on ED officers.
Sheikh was arrested by the state police on February 29 in connection with the attack on ED officials, following which the state government handed over the case to the CID. A CBI team on Tuesday reached the CID office in Kolkata with paramilitary forces to take custody of Sheikh but he was not handed over to the agency by the West Bengal police. "We have not handed him over as the state government has moved the Supreme Court (against the HC order)," an official had said in Kolkata on Tuesday.
A team of ED officials had gone to raid the house of Sheikh, who allegedly has close links with arrested former state food minister Jyoti Priya Mallick, in connection with the multi-crore ration distribution scam in West Bengal.
With inputs from PTI
