TMC leader Sheikh Shahjahan, accused of sexual atrocities and land grabbing in Sandeshkhali in West Bengal, has been arrested by West Bengal Police.
Shahjahan, who has been absconding for the past 55 days, was nabbed from the Minakhan area in North 24 Parganas. Minakhan SDPO Aminul Islam Khan said the accused will be produced before the Basirhat Court on Thursday afternoon.
South Bengal ADG Supratim Sarkar, while confirming the arrest, said Shahjahan was arrested in the incident wherein ED officers were assaulted. "Sheikh Shahjahan, one of the principal accused in a case wherein ED officers were assaulted during the course of raid, was arrested. The incident happened on 5th January 2024. We arrested him Wednesday night from Minakha Police area. He will be produced before the court today and we will ask for police custody," Sarkar said.
On whether there were sexual assault charges against Shahjahan, the ADG said: "Not in this case. In this case, there is no charge under Sec 354l. There have been many cases (against him). Cases registered on February 8 and 9 pertain to incidents which took place two to three years back. Investigating them and gathering evidence takes time, particularly in incidents that happened two years back."
He added that the police could not act against Shahjahan due to legal complications. "The ED had applied to the High Court seeking a stay in investigation. That prayer was granted by the High Court. But, a couple of days back, the High Court made it amply clear that there is no bar on arrest. Following that instruction, over the last 2 days we had been holding raids and last night - on the basis of secret source information - we arrested Sheikh Shahjahan and he has been forwarded to court."
The accusations against Shahjahan and his supporters had left the Sandeshkhali area -- situated on the borders of the Sundarbans, about 100 kilometres from Kolkata -- on the boil for over a month.
Shahjahan, accused of several criminal cases including the murder of 3 BJP leaders, is also under ED probe for his role in money laundering in connection with the ration and land scams.
Last week, the Calcutta High Court directed that Shahjahan, the Enforcement Directorate, the Central Bureau of Investigation, and the state home secretary be impleaded as parties in the suo motu matter initiated on the allegations of sexual atrocities on women and the land grab of tribal people.
TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee had claimed that Shahjahan could not be arrested because of legal tangles and stay on FIRs filed by the police.
TMC MP Santanu Sen defended the arrest of Shahjahan, stating that this proves the West Bengal government follows 'rajdharma' in administration. "We had taken action against Partha Chatterjee and Jyotipriya Mallick, and similarly, we have taken action against Shibu Hazra and Uttam Sardar and now Sheikh Shahjahan has been arrested. Abhishek Banerjee had said that the police were unable to arrest him due to the court's stay order. He has been arrested within 3-4 days of the removal of the stay order," Sen told ANI.
However, the BJP claimed that the state government was compelled to arrest Sheikj Shahjahan. "The government was in denial mode. They were not even accepting that anything as such had happened. Today, due to the agitation of the BJP and the women of Sandeshkhali, the government and Mamata Banerjee were compelled to arrest Sheikh Shahjahan," West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar told ANI.
