Sandeshkhali case: West Bengal police refuses to hand over Sheikh Shahjahan to CBI

A team of CBI sleuths reached Bhabani Bhawan, which is the West Bengal Police Headquarter, to take custody of Shahjahan in connection with the attack on Enforcement Directorate officers in Sandeshkhali on January 5.  

The Bengal government has refused to hand over custody of Sheikh Shahjahan - the former Trinamool strongman accused of extortion, land grab, and sexual assault in Bengal's Sandeshkhali - to the CBI despite a Calcutta High Court order Tuesday to the police's criminal investigation department, or CID.

The police were instructed by the court to hand over Shahjahan's custody along with the case files by 4:30 p.m. An empty-handed CBI team departed the Kolkata police headquarters around 7:30 p.m. The state has petitioned the Supreme Court, therefore they are holding off on releasing Shahjahan until they receive their decision.

Earlier today, the High Court held the state police to be "totally biased" and called for a "fair, honest, and complete investigation" into the allegations against Shahjahan. "There can be no better case than this... which requires to be transferred (and) to be investigated by the CBI," it observed.

Several members of the Enforcement Directorate were injured after their team was attacked by a mob in Sandeshkhali on January 5. The attack happened when the ED officers went to raid Sheikh Shahjahan's house in connection with the alleged multi-crore ration distribution scam.

Sheikh Shahjahan had been on the run since January 5, when a team of Enforcement Directorate officials were attacked by a mob of his supporters while en route to conduct raids. He was arrested by the state police on February 29 after 55 days of absconding.

A major political dispute was triggered by the attack and Shahjahan's absence; the ruling Trinamool was singled out by the BJP, which claimed that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's party was shielding Shahjahan.