Speaking in Kolkata Sunday, he said, “If the High Court ties the state administration’s hands, what can be done? After the January 5 incident, wherein it was claimed that ED officers were attacked, the central agency filed a complaint. The High Court ordered that a SIT, comprising representatives of state police and central agencies, be formed. Around 10-12 days later, the ED appealed for a stay in the HC.

Accordingly, the plea was accepted. This means that they wanted that there should be no investigation, arrest, summons, or interrogation.”

“Did Mamata Banerjee do this? No. It was done by the Calcutta HC. The hearing for the case is on March 6,” said Banerjee and questioned if the stay order was to ensure that “BJP could secure footage of the incident”.

The ED officials were attacked on January 5. Sheikh had been on the run since then. He countered Opposition parties’ claims that the TMC was shielding Sheikh and criticised the BJP for trying to “stoke a fire” in Bengal and “create unrest”.

“I want to put this on record – the Trinamool is not guarding Shahjahan Sheikh but the judiciary is. This is to ensure that Sandeshkhali remains in news. Lift the stay and see what the state police does next. The protests in Sandeshkhali need to be probed by police to check whether they are genuine… ,” he said.