Sandeshkhali Case: Two persons were arrested on Friday morning in connection with the attack on Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials during a raid at the house of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Shajahan Sheikh in Sandeshkhali on January 5.
Early this morning, we arrested two persons, Mukhibur Rehman and Sukamal Sardar. They were produced in court. The court sent them to police custody for three days,” said Joby Thomas K, superintendent of Basirhat police district. Shahjahan Sheikh, against whom a lookout notice has been issued by the Enforcement Directorate is yet to be arrested.
“We have stated in our complaint letter to the police that ED officials had been speaking with Sheikh that morning. When he came to know that ED officials were at his doorstep, he hung up. Both his mobile phones were found engaged constantly after that. The locations of both phones showed that he was inside the house,” an ED official said speaking on the sequence of events on the day of the raid at Sheikh’s residence in Sandeshkhali.
The federal agency has accused the state police of diluting the charges pressed against accused persons in the Sandeshkhali case stating that Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections dealing with charges such as attempt to murder, dacoity, and voluntarily causing grievous hurt to deter public servant were dropped from the first information report (FIR) registered by state police.
Calcutta High Court’s Interim Stay On FIR
However, the police registered an FIR against the ED officials based on a complaint lodged by the caretaker of Sheikh’s house. Notably, the Calcutta High Court on Thursday issued an interim stay on the FIR till March 31.
Governor’s Meeting With Chief And Home Secretaries At Raj Bhavan
The arrests came after West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose summoned the state’s chief secretary, BP Gopalika and home secretary Nandini Chakraborty urgently and held a meeting at Raj Bhavan on Thursday evening.
Bengali