Kolkata, Feb (29) PTI The arrest of TMC’s alleged ED assault “mastermind” in Sandeshkhali, Shajahan Sheikh, a day before the Prime Minister’s scheduled visit to West Bengal and a day after the Calcutta High Court’s ruling that central agencies could also carry out the fugitive’s apprehension seems to have led the opposition to call the police action “scripted”.
While the BJP considered the day’s development as a shot in its arm and claimed credit for the arrest on grounds of “pressure on the Mamata Banerjee government created on account of the party’s sustained agitation”, leaders hinted that they were not done with Sandeshkhali.
“This isn’t an arrest, it’s a mutual adjustment,” said state Leader of Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari at Jeliakhali in Sandeshkhali where, armed with a high court order, he reached the troubled region for the second time in two weeks.
“Picture abhi baki hai (the show is yet to end),” he added, indicating the party’s plans to push the issue further.
Adhikari wasn’t the only one to drop that hint. The party’s state president Sukanta Majumdar said, “Only one Shajahan has been arrested. There are many more Shajahans spread across the state.” Majumdar was, perceptively, indicating the party’s plans to look for more such figures from Bengal’s ruling dispensation.
Opposition camps were also abuzz with speculation on whether Mamata Banerjee tried to take a leaf away from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled public address in Arambag in Hooghly district on Friday.
“It’s quite possible that the Trinamool was apprehending a further loss of face if the Prime Minister himself raised the issue of the state’s inability to nab a local leader on the run for 55 days,” a senior BJP leader told PTI.
The fact that Sheikh was suspended from all Trinamool post his arrest and removed from all party positions, also failed to impress the opposition with leaders across the board calling the move an “eyewash”.
The state police though strongly rejected the opposition’s theories on Sheikh’s arrest timing.
“The ED approached the Calcutta High Court seeking a stay on the investigation. The state police could not arrest the accused due to legal hurdles. That the police did not arrest him deliberately, is entirely wrong,” ADG (South Bengal) Supratim Sarkar said.
Sarkar had earlier disclosed that Sheikh was apprehended from a residence in Bamanpukur, located in the Minakhan police station jurisdiction, approximately 30 km from the Sandeshkhali island in the outskirts of Sunderbans, in North 24 Parganas district. He was hiding in the company of several associates.
Following a brief hearing at court which affirmed his 10-day police remand, Sheikh was transferred for interrogation to Bhabani Bhawan, the state police headquarters in Kolkata, as the CID assumed control of the investigation.
He was booked under IPC sections 147 (guilty of rioting), 148 (guilty of rioting being armed with a deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 307 (attempt to murder), 333 (whoever voluntarily causes grievous hurt to any person being a public servant) and 392 (robbery), police confirmed.
The Trinamool leadership, though, claimed political one-upmanship in the party’s decision to take disciplinary action against Sheikh.
“We have decided to suspend Shajahan Sheikh from the party for six years. As always, we walk the talk. We have set examples in the past, and we are doing that today,” said Trinamool spokesperson, Derek O’Brien.
“But we dare the BJP to suspend leaders, who have corruption cases against them and have several criminal cases against them,” O’Brien said at a press conference in Kolkata.
The party continued to persist on its stand on “court-imposed obstacle” to Shajahan’s arrest and claimed vindication of TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee’s claim that the police had their hands tied by a high court order, until they were allowed to act.
“Due to a legal tangle, he couldn’t be arrested initially. However, after the court clarified that there was no stay on his arrest, the West Bengal Police did its job. The opposition had earlier exploited the embargo on his arrest,” TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh told PTI.
The retort came from BJP’s IT cell head, Amit Malviya.
“As soon as the Calcutta High Court allowed ED and CBI to arrest Sheikh Shahjahan, Mamata Banerjee’s police took control of him. They hurriedly took him to a local Court, to preclude ED and CBI lawyers from getting in. No wonder women of Sandeshkhali have no faith in Mamata Banerjee,” he posted on X.
Governor CV Ananda Bose, who had previously set a 72-hour ultimatum for Sheikh’s arrest, expressed satisfaction at Sheikh’s arrest, stating, “There is always light at the end of the tunnel. I welcome it.” “This is the beginning of an end. We have to put an end to the cycle of violence in Bengal. In parts of Bengal, the goons are ruling the roost. This must end, and the gangsters should be put behind bars,” he emphasised. PTI SCH PNT AMR SMY NN
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