New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) have filed chargesheets against suspended Trinamool Congress (TMC) strongman Sheikh Shahjahan in separate cases that they were investigating in what could further complicate matters for Shahjahan.
Sheikh Shahjahan was the center of a storm in Sandeshkhali in North 24 Paraganas last February when villagers started an agitation against local TMC leaders over land grab and sexual assault allegations, with the ruling TMC and the BJP trading attacks.
The CBI Monday filed its chargesheet against Shahjahan, his younger brother Sheikh Alamgir, and five others at the Basirhat special court for an alleged attack on a team of ED officers and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), who were looking for them, in January this year.
Last week, the ED filed a prosecution complaint against Shahjahan, his brother, and two associates before a special PMLA court for alleged landgrab and money laundering in Sandeshkhali as a follow-up to an Enforcement Complaint Information Report (ECIR) filed 21 March.
West Bengal (WB) Police arrested Shahjahan 29 February amid high drama after a delay of nearly 55 days from the day of the assault on ED and CRPF officers.
Later, the CBI took over the custody of Shahjahan under the direction of the Calcutta High Court. The ED later took custody of him and his brother to interrogate them in the land-grabbing case.
The TMC, in February, suspended Shahjahan from the party for six years.
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The CBI case
Shahjahan and his aides attacked the ED officers 5 January when they visited his residence in Sandeshkhali to question him about an ongoing probe into alleged irregularities in the WB public distribution system.
On the same day, West Bengal Police filed an FIR against the accused after a deputy director-level ED officer complained that Shahjahan gathered an assembly of nearly 800 people and orchestrated an attack to kill and deter the ED officers from carrying out the investigation. However, the arrest took much longer, coming at February-end.
Later, the Calcutta High Court ordered the transfer of the three FIRs filed by West Bengal Police over the attack on the ED officers, including the one orchestrated by Shahjahan, to the CBI.
The CBI then booked Shahjahan and the other unidentified individuals under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections of rioting, rioting with deadly weapons, unlawful assembly, wrongful restraint, voluntarily obstructing public servants in the discharge of their duties, using criminal force to deter public servants from performing their duties, causing hurt voluntarily, mischief, theft, criminal intimidation, and common intention, as well as Section 3 (mischief causing damage to public property) of Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984.
On 6 March, the CBI took over the custody of Shahjahan from the West Bengal Criminal Investigation Department (CID), but not before a long wait of at least a couple of hours despite Calcutta High Court orders for custody and case transfer.
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The ED case
The ED filed the 21 March ECIR based on a state police case against illegal land grabbing by Shahjahan. Now, it has brought charges under sections 3 (offence of money laundering) and 4 (punishment for money laundering) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2020, against him, his brother Sheikh Alamgir, and associates Shibaprasad Hazra alias Shibu Hazra, and Deedar Baksh.
The ECIR had come a month after the Calcutta High Court, on 28 February, questioned the inability of the Mamata Banerjee-led state government to arrest Shahjahan. The ECIR, based on the state police case, alleged Shahjahan created an “atmosphere of terror” in Sandeshkhali and led a gang for extortion and organised crime, including syndicates for illegal land grabbing.
The ED has also been probing Shahjahan’s crimes related to 13 FIRs filed against him by the state police under various IPC and Arms Act sections.
Earlier on 17 May, the ED claimed to have attached movable and immovable properties worth Rs 27 crore belonging to Shahjahan as part of the PMLA investigation. Shahjahan allegedly amassed approximately Rs 288 crore from his criminal activities.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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