Trinamool chief Sheikh Shahjahan being introduced to a courtroom in North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, on Thursday . PTI
The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday ordered the switch of the probe into an attack on Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers at Sandeshkhali on January 5 from the West Bengal Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). A Division Bench of T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya additionally directed that the custody of suspended Trinamool Congress chief Sheikh Shahjahan shall additionally forthwith be handed over to the CBI, and that order shall be carried out by 4.30 p.m. on Tuesday.
In an oral point out earlier than Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, the West Bengal authorities urged for an early listening to of its attraction towards the High Court order to hand over the case to the central company. The CJI requested the State authorities, represented by senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, to method the Supreme Court Registrar involved with the itemizing of circumstances.
Sheikh Shahjahan was arrested by the West Bengal Police on February 29 after villagers, notably girls in Sandeshkhali, held protests for days demanding his arrest. The allegations of sexual assault and land seize by Sheikh Shahjahan and his aides had triggered an outrage within the political circles.
Earlier, a Single Bench of Calcutta High Court had on January 17 arrange an SIT comprising officers of West Bengal Police and the CBI to probe the attack on ED officers and the Division Bench had stayed the order on the prayer of ED.
“In the result, MAT no. 169 of 2024 and MAT no. 191 of 2024 are allowed, and the order passed by the learned Single Bench constituting the Special Investigating Team is set aside, and the writ petition filed by the Enforcement Directorate in WPA 802 of 2024 is allowed, and cases in FIR No. 8 of 2024 and FIR No. 9 of 2024 on the file of the Nazat Police Station and FIR 18 of 2024 on the file of the Bongaon Police Station shall forthwith be transferred to Central Bureau of Investigation,” the Division Bench mentioned within the order.
The courtroom famous that Sheikh Shahjahan, who was arrested after being on the run for greater than 50 days, isn’t an bizarre citizen, and it has develop into essential for doing full justice and implementing the elemental rights of the general public that the circumstances be transferred to the CBI.
“He is an elected representative of the public, holding the highest office in a Zilla Parishad, he was fielded as the candidate at the elections held for the said post by the political party which is ruling dispensation. Thus, it has become imperative and absolutely necessary for doing complete justice and enforcing the fundamental rights of the public in general and the public of the locality that the cases be transferred to the CBI for investigation,” the order mentioned.
The Division Bench additionally took notice of the impugned order of a Single Bench the place it has noticed that the suo motu FIR – the FIR No. eight of 2024 – didn’t include related provisions of the legislation and offered a fairly watered-down model. The ED raid on the residence of Sheikh Shahjahan on January 5 was in reference to the general public distribution system. Section 307 IPC (try to homicide) was added to the case on January 17.