Sheikh Shahjahan put under mehman-nawazi of state police: BJP MP

NEW DELHI: Taking a dig at the TMC government and West Bengal Police over the arrest of absconding strongman and Sandeshkhali accused Sheikh Shahjahan, and, his 10-day remand, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sudhanshu Trivedi on Thursday said he has been put under the 'mehman-nawazi' (hospitality) of the state police in a bid to avoid arrest by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) and the CBI.

Close to two months after he was reported untraceable in the wake of the attack on an ED team, which was on its way to raid his residence in the North 24 Parganas in connection with the alleged ration scam, the TMC strongman, who is also alleged by the women of Sandeshkhali to have perpetrated grave atrocities along with his henchmen, was arrested earlier in the day.

Addressing a press briefing at the BJP headquarters in the national capital on Thursday, Trivedi said, "After being reported missing and untraceable for close to two months, Sheikh Shahjahan was arrested all of a sudden. However, no charges have been pressed against him for perpetrating atrocities on the women of Sandeshkhali and sending them inappropriate messages. It is evident that he was arrested under pressure from the high court (which cleared his arrest by the ED, CBI or state police) and the spontaneous uprising in Sandeshkhali, much against the wishes of the ruling party."

Questioning the claim of the state police that the absconding TMC strongman was arrested in the ED case, the BJP leader added, "If he was, indeed, apprehended in the ED case, after the court, as they claimed, lifted the lock on his arrest, why isn't the state police not handing him over to the central agency? In fact, from the circumstances around his arrest, it appears that he was in the safekeeping of the Mamata government in the immediate run-up to his apprehension. Now, he has been put under 'mehman-nawazi' (hospitality) of the West Bengal Police to avoid arrest by the ED and CBI," Trivedi said.

Explaining why he used the term 'mehman-nawazi', the Rajya Sabha MP said, "I deliberately used the term 'mehman-nawazi' because, if you cared to notice his body language and that of the police personnel around him, you would surely have questioned if his mannerisms were more befitting an actor than a wrongdoer."

Earlier in the day, Leader of Opposition (LoP) Suvendu Adhikari also questioned Shahjahan's arrest, saying, "This is not an arrest but a mutual understanding."

"Bhaskar Mukherjee (DIG, Malda Range) took him (Sheikh Shahjahan) in a car to Palta and, thereafter, he was driven to Bhushi Ratil. This is not an arrest but a mutual understanding. Till such he is remanded in custody of the central agencies, the people, especially the women, of Sandeshkhali will continue to be deprived of justice. There was no stay on his arrest by the court. It was a falsehood spread by the ruling TMC to deceive the people. I would say it again and again: this isn't an arrest but a mutual adjustment," Adhikari told reporters.

Claiming further that the Sandeshkhali accused would be accorded five-star treatment in the custody of state police, the LoP said, "He will treated to 5-star facilities in jail. He will have access to mobile phones behind bars and will be able to run his writ in the area from custody. He will return to his illegal activities and thuggery from inside the jail." Earlier, hundreds of women in Sandeshkhali came out on the streets against the strongman, accusing him and his aides of mass rapes, excesses on women and land grab. "Shahjahan was arrested from Minakhan in the North 24 Parganas district," Minakhan SDPO Aminul Islam Khan told ANI earlier on Thursday.