The Calcutta High Court ordered the CBI to investigate allegations of sexual assault in Bengal’s Sandeshkhali area this month.
The Bengal government has appealed to the Supreme Court from a Calcutta High Court decision, requesting that the CBI look into allegations of sexual assault, extortion, and land grabs brought by Sandeshkhali against Sheikh Shahjahan, the suspended leader of the Trinamool Congress, and his associates.
This occurs just a few hours after the CBI, which is also looking into the attack on an Enforcement Directorate team on January 5, raided locations connected to the suspects.
Sources claim that the federal agency confiscated weapons and ammunition created in other countries, which prompted the National Security Guard’s elite commando squads to be sent to the area.
A group of supporters of Shahjahan attacked an ED team as they were traveling to carry out searches in relation to a different case, which sparked the Sandeshkhali controversy. The Trinamool strongman left after that event, which resulted in injuries to ED personnel (and stayed concealed for almost two months).
With the general election only a few weeks away, the attack on the ED team set off a violent political debate in which the Congress, an ally of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s on paper, and the BJP both denounced her government for holding up Sheikh Shahjahan’s arrest.
On February 29, 2004, Shahjahan—who had already been the subject of an ED investigation for money laundering related to the land and ration scandals that rocked Bengali politics—was apprehended.
With the election starting last Friday, the whole situation has become a major flashpoint.
Following disputed remarks made by Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee, who claimed that the state was unable to arrest Shahjahan because the court had “tied (police’s) hands,” the BJP accused the Trinamool of concealing the man, who was only taken into custody following an explicit instruction from the High Court.
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Rekha Patra, one of the women who claimed that Shahjahan had sexually assaulted her, has been put forward by the BJP to run for the Basirhat seat, which encompasses Sandeshkhali.
In response, the Trinamool cited current BJP MP and former head of the wrestling organization Brij Bhushan Singh, who was charged with sexual assault by female wrestlers.
Amidst all of this, the state’s High Court delivered a sharp rebuke to the Bengal administration earlier this month. On Thursday, the court heard papers calling for a probe into the Sandeshkhali charges.
If the charges were found to be true, a bench chaired by Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam declared that the state could not escape responsibility. He said, “Even if one affidavit is true, it is dishonorable.”
