On Tuesday (12th March), the Calcutta High Court dismissed an application made by suspended Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Shahjahan Sheikh for anticipatory relief in the multi-crore ration distribution scam case. It is pertinent to note that several women from Sandeshkhali had accused Shahjahan of grabbing land, rape and sexual harassment. However, he has not yet been booked for those complaints.
A division bench of Justices Debangsu Basak and Shabbar Rashidi denied Sheikh’s plea for pre-arrest bail in cases concerning the Ration scam. The scam is being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Shahajahan’s advocate Sabyasachi Banerjee claimed that the charges against him were ambiguous and that he was not named in the FIR filed on December 12, 2023. He stated that when Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials raided Shahjahan’s home on several occasions, nothing incriminating was discovered. He further claimed that Shahjahan was summoned solely based on the confession of another accused, Jyotipriyo Mallick, a former food minister. Reports suggest that Sheikh Shahjahan is a close aide of Jyotipriyo Mallick.
DSG Dhiraj Trivedi, representing the ED, stated that the Sheikh had been uncooperative with the investigation and had not replied to the summons, culminating in attacks on ED personnel who had gone to raid the residence. As a result, the motion for anticipatory bail was denied due to the lack of validity in Sheikh’s plea and the fact that the ED’s investigation had no shortcomings.
Notably, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has not arrested Sheikh in connection with the ration scam.
He is currently in the custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with a 5th January incident in which approximately 200 local residents encircled and gheraoed ED officers who had arrived to raid Sheikh’s residence in Akunjipara in connection with the ration scam case. ED officials were injured during the attack, and Sheikh’s associates were suspected of planning the attack.
Notably, just days after Sheikh Shahjahan’s rise to infamy, another horrific misdeed of the erstwhile TMC strongman came to the fore.
Sheikh Shahjahan was arrested on 29th February, in connection with last month’s attack on an Enforcement Directorate (ED) team in Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district. The arrest came 55 days after he fled in the wake of the public and political upheaval over allegations of sexual atrocities, land grabbing, robbing people, physical assault, and sexual abuse against Sheikh Shajahan and his supporters. He was arrested from a hideout barely 30km from Sandeshkhali.
The incompetency of the Bengal government machinery and the state police was so stark in the case that on 20th February, the Calcutta High Court slammed the Mamata Banerjee-led-West Bengal government for failing to arrest ‘absconding’ Sheikh Shahjahan, responsible for the violence and unrest in Sandeshkhali village. During the hearing, the court observed, “He (Sheikh Shahjahan) cannot be encouraged by State dispensation. There is a prima facie material to show he has done damage…”
On 5th March, the Calcutta High Court dismissed the SIT formed to probe the arrest of TMC strongman Sheikh Shahjahan and handed over the probe to the CBI. Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam ordered the Mamata Govt to hand over the custody of the TMC leader to the CBI and said that the directions be compiled. Subsequently, Shahjahan was turned over to the CBI.
As reported earlier, BJP’s Amit Malviya had slammed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee after Shahjahan’s arrest saying that the state government had been left with no option but to arrest him. Naming TMC leaders for similar cases, Malviya alleged that they ‘run a similar reign of terror because they deliver votes to Mamata Banerjee’.
Interestingly, a video has surfaced online which shows Padma Shri awardee Dr Narayan Chakraborty, renowned for his pioneering work in arsenic toxicity, particularly in West Bengal, confirming that suspended TMC leader Sheikh Shahjahan’s school leaving certificate is from Bangladesh.
Sheikh Shahjahan’s school leaving certificate is from Bangladesh, he was a BNP student leader, says Padma Shri Narayan Chakraborty. #Sandeshkhali pic.twitter.com/rArRYBpMhD
— Abhijit Majumder (@abhijitmajumder) March 12, 2024
Dr Narayan Chakraborty confirmed that Sheikh Shahjahan was a student leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Union in his college days. He added, “How and when he infiltrated India and acquired Indian citizenship is a matter that the National Investigation Agency should probe.”
Public Distribution System Scam in which Sheikh Shahjahan is accused
On 26th October, ED raided the residence of West Bengal Minister Jyoti Priya Mallick in Kolkata in connection to a corruption case related to ration distribution. Mallick is a senior TMC leader serving as the forest minister. Previously, he held the food minister portfolio. In response to the raid, Banerjee strongly criticised the central agency and accused the BJP-led government at the centre of using such actions as part of a “broader strategy” ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Interestingly, Mallick’s daughter Priyadarshini reportedly deposited Rs 3.37 crores in her bank account after the 2016 demonetisation. Being a school teacher, she draws an annual salary of 2.48 lakhs. During ED’s interrogation, she claimed to have earned the money as tuition fees. Furthermore, ED found a deposit of Rs 4.3 crores in the IDBI bank account of Mallick’s wife, Mandipa. ED arrested Mallick over an accusation of laundering Rs 95 crores using shell companies.
