AMN / KOLKATA
A day after Sandeshkhali strongman Sheikh Shahjahan was arrested in connection with the mob attack on an Enforcement Directorate (ED) team, Trinamool Congress suspended him from the party for six years.
TMC leaders slammed the BJP and dared it to act against tainted leaders in its ranks.
Senior party leader Derek O’Brien said the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress stands by the people and takes “no nonsense, whoever you are”. “If you have hurt or are alleged to have hurt the people, we walk the talk,” he said.
The Trinamool leader said that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had told Calcutta High Court to stop Bengal police from arresting Sheikh Shahjahan, who was on the run for 55 days. “They wanted to keep the Sandeshkhali issue alive till the Prime Minister’s Bengal trip. After our leader Abhishek Banerjee’s remark on the high court’s stay and the court’s clarification, we went ahead and arrested Sheikh Shahjahan,” the minister said. “Only Trinamool Congress can set such an example.” The minister said the people must remember the example of “raj dharma” set by Ms Banerjee.
The West Bengal CID on Thursday took over the investigation of cases lodged against TMC leader Sheikh Shahjahan, who was arrested from Minakhan in North 24 Parganas district, said a senior official.
Sheikh, who was apprehended in the early hours of Thursday, was brought to Bhawani Bhawan from a local court in Basirhat, which sent him to 10 days police custody. He was arrested in two cases in connection with an assault on Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers on the 5th of January during a raid at his house in an alleged ration scam. He was charged under various sections of the IPC, including 147 (rioting) and 307 (attempt to murder), said the police.
The Calcutta High Court, yesterday, allowed senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari to visit Haldarpara in the Sandeshkhali area today. The court also stayed the imposition of Prohibitory Orders under Section 144 of CrPC at Haldarpara. Local BJP leader Bikash Singh was released today from Basirhat sub correctional home after the Court gave him bail. He was arrested by police on the charge of inciting violence at Sandeshkhali.
Meanwhile the State government today appealed to the division bench of Chief Justice T S Shivagyanam and Justice Hiranmoy Bhattacharya on giving Suvendu Adhikari a permit to go to Sandeshkhali. Yesterday, the single judge bench of Justice Ashok Chanda permitted Mr Adhikari to visit Sandeshkhali on some pre-conditions.