TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh, the main accused in the sexual abuse and land-grabbing case at Sandeshkhali, was sent to 10-day police custody by the Basirhat court on Thursday. Shahjahan, who was absconding for the last 55 days, was arrested by the West Bengal police on Wednesday night.
Shahjahan, who has been absconding for the past 55 days, was nabbed from a house in Bamanpukur in the Minakhan police station area, around 30 km away from the island of Sandeshkhali on the outskirts of Sunderbans, in North 24 Parganas district. He was arrested in the case wherein his supporters assaulted Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers on January 5 during a raid at his house in a ration scam case.
He was booked under IPC sections 147 (guilty of rioting), 148 (guilty of rioting being armed with a deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 307 (attempt to murder), 333 (whoever voluntarily causes grievous hurt to any person being a public servant) and 392 (robbery).
Shahjahan was seen walking to the courtroom, accompanied by policemen, at around 10:40 am on Thursday. The hearing lasted just two minutes after which he was whisked away by the police.
The Bengal police claimed they 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," South Bengal ADG Supratim Sarkar told reporters.
Governor CV Ananda Bose, who had on Monday night given a 72-hour "deadline" to the state government for Sheikh's arrest, said, "There is always light at the end of the tunnel. I welcome it."
"This is the beginning of an end. We have to put an end to the cycle of violence in Bengal. In parts of Bengal, the goons are ruling the roost. This must end and the gangsters should be put behind bars," he told reporters.
The BJP and the TMC traded allegations over the arrest with Opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari calling it a "mutual adjustment."
"This is not arrest, this is a mutual adjustment. Unless the central agencies take him into their custody, the people there won't get justice. There is no protection from the court and this is not an interlocutory stay. This misconception has been created by the leaders of TMC and the police," Adhikari alleged.
However, TMC blamed the legal tangle for the delay in the arrest. "Due to a legal tangle, he couldn't be arrested initially. However, after the court clarified that there was no stay on his arrest, the West Bengal Police did its job. The opposition had earlier exploited the embargo on his arrest," TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh told PTI.
"We had said he would be arrested in seven days as we were confident of the ability of the state police," he added.
Over 100 complaints
Police said that over 100 complaints were registered against Sheikh over the last few weeks, which saw violent protests led by women demanding his arrest. Several cases, including that of 376D (gang rape), have been filed against Sheikh and his associates based on these complaints.
His close aides Shibaprasad Hazra and Uttam Sardar were earlier arrested on similar charges. Another associate, Ajit Maiti, was held in connection with the allegations of land grabbing.
The complaint was that Shajahan forcibly took over land from the people, and tortured the women of the area.
