Sandeshkhali Violence: Calcutta High Court says CBI, ED are at liberty to arrest TMC's Shahjahan Sheikh

The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday clarified that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) are at liberty to arrest absconding Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Sheikh Shahjahan and it is not the West Bengal police alone that can arrest Shahjahan [Court on its own motion vs State of West Bengal]..Shahjahan has recently been in the news after he was accused of sexual assault and land-grabbing activities in Sandeshkhali, besides having close ties to an accused in the ration scam case.The clarification was made after the ED and CBI told the Court that they have serious reservations about West Bengal Police probing the allegations against the TMC leader. Advocate General Kishore Datta mentioned the matter before a bench led by Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, seeking some clarifications in earlier order passed on February 26.During the hearing, Deputy Solicitor General (DSG) Dhiraj Trivedi appeared for the ED and submitted that if the local police is permitted to probe the case, they might destroy the evidence."The single-judge, in the order of constituting an SIT to probe attack on ED officers, had clearly asked the local police not to probe the case. We have an apprehension that the local police will dilute the entire case against him," Trivedi told the judges. Appearing for the CBI, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, weighed in and submitted that the central agency has serious grievances against the State Police in investigating the case."Our apprehension is that if the State Police arrests Shahjahan, they might dilute the case against him. Ultimately, if the probe is transferred to the CBI... Even we want him to be arrested but not by a wrong agency. We have a serious grievance against the State agency. We are saying that the State Police are colluding and once they are colluding they would not let the case reach its logical end," the ASG submitted. The ASG made it clear to the Court that the CBI does not want a joint probe with the State Police and would want to proceed independently. He, therefore, urged the bench to hear the submissions on this aspect on February 29. However, the bench said it would hear the case on March 4, as fixed earlier. The bench, however, proceeded to clarify that both the CBI as well as the ED are free to arrest Shahajahan. "A person, who is an elected representative of the public and elected to the office to head the Zilla Parishad, cannot be permitted to abscond. He cannot evade law," Chief Justice Sivagnanam observed..During the hearing, the bench also pulled up the State for failing to arrest Shahjahan for more than 50 days. The bench made it clear that State cannot shirk its responsibility by not apprehending a person who has been on the run for so many days.This was after the ED informed the bench that out of the 43 cases (of rape and other offences) registered in the last four years, Shahjahan has been shown to be absconding in several of those cases."Mr. AG, we see so many cases, wherein in petty offences also, an FIR is lodged in the morning and by afternoon the accused are arrested and jailed. Your machinery is so efficient but it defies logic that this man isn't arrested for so many days now," Chief Justice Sivagnanam remarked. .The Court had on Monday clarified that there is no stay on the arrest of Shahjahan and it had only stayed a single judge's order to constitute a special investigation team (SIT) to probe allegations that ED officers were attacked while trying to conduct raids at Shahjahan's residence last month."We will clarify that there is no stay on arrest. A stay on investigation doesn't mean stay on arrest. There is an FIR registered, he is branded as an accused. He will have to be arrested," the Court had said..The State has maintained that it is not supporting the absconding TMC leader.Shahjahan is said to have close links to Jyotipriyo Mallick (presently a State Minister for Forests), who was reportedly arrested in connection with the ration distribution scam in October last year.On January 5 this year, around 200 local people are said to have surrounded and gheraoed ED officers who had arrived to raid Shahjahan's residence at Akunjipara in connection with the ration scam case.ED officers were injured during the ensuing clash. In the wake of this incident, the Governor of West Bengal CV Ananda Bose later called for the arrest of Shahjahan. The TMC leader is presently absconding, according to reports.