New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered a fresh case of land-grabbing against Sandeshkhali strongman and Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Sheikh Shahjahan, who has been on the run for nearly two months.
The central probe agency also raided several locations linked to Shahjahan.
The influential Trinamool leader disappeared on 5 January when an ED team was on its way to search his Sandeshkhali home in connection with an alleged ration scam. The team was attacked by Shahjahan’s followers and chased away.
Since then, the ED has issued four summons to Shahjahan and also sent out a lookout notice.
Sandeshkhali has been on the boil since early February when scores of villagers came forward to allege that Shahjahan and his associates had illegally seized their land, and turned them into fishing farms. Women also accused them of sexual assault.
Shahjahan first came under the agency’s scanner for his proximity to the now-arrested former cabinet minister Jyotipriya Mallick, who was arrested in the alleged Rs 10,000-crore public distribution scheme (PDS) scam in West Bengal.
PDS scam & attack on ED
The ED has said Mallick – the former minister of the food and supply department – was at the helm of affairs when ration from the PDS quota to the open market was appropriated and paddy fraudulently procured.
The scam caused the state exchequer a loss of Rs 9,000 to Rs 10,000 crore, out of which nearly Rs 2,000 crore was transferred to Bangladesh, it alleged.
“During further investigation, it has been found that PoC (proceeds of crime) was laundered by Mallick through his close associates including some persons who are primarily engaged in business of FFMC (full-fledged money changers),” the agency said last month.
After arresting and charging Mallick and a rice mill-owner last year, the ED tried to raid the premises linked to Shahjahan in Sandeshkhali and former Bongaon Municipality chairman Shankar Adhya in Bongaon but its officers were assaulted and stoned.
While several ED officials were injured, the team managed to arrest Adhya, a TMC leader as well as owner of an FFMC company.
The attack led to a war of words between the state police and the ED, and also the ruling Trinamool and the opposition BJP.
The ED said its team of officers were taken aback by the assembly of a crowd of nearly 800 to 1,000 people in quick time, who carried lathis, stones, and bricks.
The agency said 27 CRPF personnel, who were there to provide security to investigating officers, were also assaulted by the mob. The attack was instigated by Shahjahan as his mobile location suggested he was present inside his house that day, it added.
Shahjahan climbed the Trinamool ladder in Sandeshkhali due to his proximity to Mallick, who was party president of North 24 Parganas at the time of his arrest.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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