Bengal Police Hand Over TMC Leader Shahjahan Sheikh to CBI After Court Raps State Govt

West Bengal police handed over TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday amid an ongoing political tussle between the central and state governments over the accused in the Sandeshkhali violence case.

This comes after Shahjahan was brought to Bhabani Bhavan in Kolkata after a medical checkup at SSKM Hospital. A CBI team reached the West Bengal Police headquarters in Kolkata earlier today to take custody of the TMC leader.

The BJP dubbed it as a matter of “great shame” that the Trinamool Congress government was opposing the Calcutta High Court order to hand over the custody of the suspended TMC leader to the CBI in the ED officers attack case. Addressing a press conference, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri said the state government’s decision to move the Supreme Court against the high court order reflects its “value system”.

The BJP leader said the TMC is not denying the offence and has gone on to provide “political cover” to Sheikh. It is not the accused but the state that has gone in appeal to the Supreme Court, he said. “The state government allows such incidents to happen and then does this,” the minister said, adding that it was a matter of “great shame”.

The high court had on Tuesday directed the investigation into a mob attack on ED officials – when they went to search the premises of Sheikh in Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district on January 5 in connection with a ration scam probe – to be transferred to the CBI. It also asked the state police to give the custody of the accused to the CBI. Sheikh has also been accused by many women in Sandeshkhali of running a ring of criminals, allegedly linked to him and to the TMC, who captured land and sexually assaulted them.

The West Bengal police on Tuesday refused to give his custody to the CBI, claiming that the state has filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against its order. On Wednesday, the high court again ordered the West Bengal government to hand over Sheikh to the CBI by 4.15 pm. Puri also quoted from the high court’s Tuesday order which criticised the “biased” state police for “making every effort to delay” the investigation. BJP spokesperson Shazia Ilmi said it is shameful that such a development is happening in a state ruled by a woman chief minister, a reference to TMC president Mamata Banerjee.

Taking a swipe at the state government, she asked what is the reason that it is trying to “protect” Sheikh and asserted that the agitation has been spearheaded by women in Sandeshkhali. To a question on whether the Centre may impose the President’s rule in the state, Puri said it is a “political call” and “beyond” his “pay grade”. “Everybody knows that there is a breakdown in law and order in Bengal,” he said, noting that the BJP normally allows democratically-elected governments to continue, unlike the Congress which had dismissed over 100 of them. People will surely give a reply to the TMC, he said.

(With agency inputs)