 "Sandeshkhali row: ED files fresh case against TMC's Shahjahan Sheikh")
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a fresh case against Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Shahjahan Sheikh over allegations against him regarding land grabbing in violence-hit Sandeshkhali village.
Multiple teams of the central investigation agency conducted searches at locations linked to him.
This comes a day after tensions rose in Sandeshkhali again when a group of people allegedly set fire to an 'alaghar' (guard room) of a fishery that they said was built on land grabbed by local TMC leaders. Following the incident, the administration issued prohibitory orders under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) Section 144 in nine areas under five gram panchayats of Sandeshkhali.
Sandeshkhali, a small island in the Sundarban delta in West Bengal's North 24-Parganas district, has been at the centre of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-TMC politics since January 5, when ED officers were assaulted while searching for the home of local strongman and TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh. The ED team had gone there in connection with an investigation into alleged irregularities in the state's public distribution system.
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Earlier this month, local residents went on a rampage seeking the arrest of Sheikh and his associates Uttam Sardar and Shibaprasad Hazra, accusing the TMC leaders of sexually harassing women and land grab. While Sardar and Hazra have been arrested, Sheikh remains at large.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the Calcutta High Court (HC) had taken an exception to the West Bengal Police's inability to arrest Shahjahan Sheikh. The division bench said in its order, "The court can take judicial notice of the fact that the entire problem stood precipitated after the Enforcement Directorate conducted a search operation on the premises of Shahjahan. The police are unable to apprehend him despite a case having been registered for various offences."
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"We have seen that women from the area have flagged several issues, and there has been land-grabbing of tribal people. This person [Shahjahan] cannot be on the run. The state cannot support it. In the suo motu matter, we will ask him to surrender here. He can't be defying the law. If one person can hold the entire population to ransom, the ruling dispensation should not support him," the bench added.