Sandeshkhali incident: CID hands over Sheikh Shahjahan to CBI

KOLKATA: The Crime Investigation Department handed over the suspended Trinamool Congress strongman Sheikh Shahjahan, accused of extortion, land grab, and sexual assault in Sandeshkhali, to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday, following the Calcutta High Court's directive. The CBI team arrived at Bhabani Bhaban Police Headquarters in Kolkata to take custody of Sheikh Shahjahan.

Issuing a contempt notice to the West Bengal CID, the Calcutta High Court observed on Wednesday that an investigation into the attack on ED officials should be handed over to the CBI and the custody of accused Sheikh Shahjahan be done today. Calcutta High Court also observed that state police have played hide and seek in the matter. "The accused is a political influencer. The investigation should be handed over to the CBI and the custody of the accused by 4:15 pm today," the High Court said.

The Bengal government earlier refused to hand over custody of Shahjahan to the CBI despite a Calcutta High Court order Tuesday to the police's criminal investigation department, or CID. Meanwhile, the West Bengal government on Wednesday sought an urgent hearing of its plea in the Supreme Court challenging a Calcutta High Court order that directed a CBI probe into the Sandeshkhali matter pertaining to an attack on Enforcement Directorate officials in Sandeshkhali on January 5 this year. Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met the women victims of sexual assault in Sandeshkhali village of West Bengal on Wednesday, sources said.

The sources further added, "They put forward their ordeal and the Prime Minister heard them patiently like a father figure. The victims were very emotional with the fact that the PM understood their pain".

After meeting PM Modi, the Sandeshkhali victim told ANI, "Thanking Prime Minister Modi, we told him openly about the atrocities being committed against every person. We told the Prime Minister how we were tortured... He assured us of help. We voted the Chief Minister to victory but she insulted us. She did not even talk to us. We felt very good after talking to PM Modi. We requested him to deploy the Central Force here because we have no faith in the state government."

Calling the women of Sandeshkhali, his parivar (family), PM Modi on Wednesday accused the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government of shielding the accused in the Sandeshkhali case and said that it is a "matter of shame."

"Under TMC's rule, the women of this land have been tortured. Whatever happened in Sandeshkhali will put anyone to shame but the TMC government does not care about your issues. TMC government is hell-bent on saving the perpetrator.

Their acts were first condemned by the High Court and then the Supreme Court as well. TMC leaders have committed atrocities on the women of the state. Leaders of TMC are torturing the women from poor, Dalit, and Adivasis groups. TMC government trusts its leaders more than it trusts the women of Bengal. TMC has full confidence in their leader but not in the women of West Bengal," the Prime Minister said.

After weeks of no action, on February 29, Sheikh was arrested by West Bengal police, after which West Bengal's Basirhat Court remanded him to 10-day police custody.