Fails to get Shajahan’s custody; Bengal govt moves SC against HC order
New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has taken over investigation into the attack on Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers by a mob in Sandeskhali on January 5, registering a First Information Report (FIR) on Tuesday hours after the Calcutta High Court directed the state police to hand over the case to the central agency, officials said.
The CBI promptly acted on the orders of the high court, which had directed on Tuesday that the central probe agency be handed over the case and the custody of suspended Trinamool Congress (TMC) party leader Shajahan Sheikh by 4.30 pm.
A CBI team reached the CID office in Kolkata with paramilitary forces to take custody of Sheikh, who was arrested by the state police on February 29 in connection with the attack, 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 said in Kolkata.
Earlier in the day, the high court slammed the West Bengal police for “totally biased” conduct and said every attempt is being made to delay the probe to “protect” the accused.
A team of ED officials was attacked by a nearly 1,000-strong mob on January 5 when they went 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.
“There can be no better case than the case on hand which requires to be transferred to be investigated by CBI,” a high court division bench headed by Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam ruled on Tuesday.
Within hours of the HC acceding to the ED’s request, the West Bengal government moved the Supreme Court challenging the order but an apex court bench refused an urgent listing of the plea and asked its counsel to mention the matter before the Registrar General.
Sheikh’s assets worth Rs 12.78 crore attached
New Delhi/Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday said it has attached over a dozen properties worth Rs 12.78 crore of suspended TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh including bank deposits, an apartment and agricultural and fishery land in Sandeshkhali and Kolkata in West Bengal.
A provisional order has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to attach these assets, the agency said in a statement.
Sheikh was arrested on February 29 by the West Bengal police in the ED attack case, 55 days after he went underground following the alleged assault. The TMC had suspended him from the party after the arrest.
The money laundering case of the ED stems from a state police FIR that booked him and some others under various sections of the IPC, Arms Act and other Acts.