The Enforcement Directorate seized nearly Rs 13 crore worth of property belonging to suspended TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh on Tuesday. Sheikh is one of the main accused in the Sandeshkhali violence and sexual harassment case.
In a post on X, the federal agency said that it has attached “14 immovable properties” and “two bank accounts” in connection with the suspended TMC leader. The properties including apartment, agriculture land, land for fishery, land and building in village Sarberia, Sandeshkhali and Kolkata.
ED, Kolkata has provisionally attached movable and immovable assets worth Rs. 12.78 Crore in the form of 14 immovable properties in the nature of apartment, agriculture land, land for fishery, land and building etc. in Gram Serberia, Sandeshkhali and Kolkata and two bank…— ED (@dir_ed) March 5, 2024
Earlier in January, the anti-corruption agency conducted raids at Sheikh’s residence in North 24 Parganas, during which their team was attacked. Following which, the TMC leader was on the run. Again, 19 days later, an ED team conducted a raid at the absconding leader’s residence.
Sheikh is accused of land grabbing and sexual assaulting the woman of Sandeshkhali. Unrest in the region led to several political battles, mainly between the ruling TMC and the BJP.
Last week, after being on the run for about 55 days, Sheikh was arrested on February 29. Following this, the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC suspended its strongman for six years. With this, Shahjahan lost all the party posts that he used to hold.
At present, the suspended TMC leader is in CID’s custody due to safety reasons. On Tuesday, the Calcutta High Court directed CID to hand over Shahjahan to CBI for interrogation.
However, CID refused to hand over Sheikh to the Central Bureau of Investigation, despite the court’s order. The court had ordered the police to transfer the TMC leader’s custody, as well as all the case materials by 4:30 pm to CBI.
Ground report said that the Central agency officers had to wait for over two hours at the CID office for the transfer, however, the West Bengal government denied the request.
Following the refusal, sources from the Central Bureau of Investigation informed CNN-News18 that the agency plans to make another transfer attempt on Wednesday.
The source said that the state government’s denial was ‘strange’, considering the order came from the Calcutta High Court instructing the transfer of the investigation to the central agency.
“They denied on the grounds that they have approached the Supreme Court, and we have not received any order regarding a stay so far. As we have already registered an FIR in the case, we are also probe agency and will reach out again for the same,” the source said.
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