The latest TMC leader to bear the brunt of the locals is Sankar Sardar, a panchayat member from Bermajur village. The premises belonging to at least four TMC leaders, including residences, two poultry farms and a fishery, besides a party office have been ransacked by the villagers since protests erupted in the area.
Ajit Maity, a TMC member whose house was vandalised on Friday, was arrested by the police on Monday. He is the third leader from the party who has been arrested after Uttam Sardar and Shibaprasad Hazra who were taken into custody on February 10 and 17.
Meanwhile, the police have registered an FIR against TMC strongman and zila parishad member Sheikh Shahjahan, who has been on the run since an Enforcement Directorate (ED) team was attacked during a raid at his residence in connection with the ration distribution scam in the state on January 5.
Earlier, the ED had named Shahjahan in its complaint.
A large number of women from the area have accused Sheikh and his supporters of encroaching upon their lands and sexually assaulting them.
Hosain Mehedi Rehman, superintendent of police (SP), Basirhat police district, said, “We are repeatedly asking people not to take the law into their hands. I have visited the spot. We have detained so villagers and if it is proved that they took part in the attack, they will be arrested.”
“We have set up a complaint booth at Bermajur village. People have been asked to lodge their complaints there. We have received a complaint against Shahjahan Sheikh and are investigating it,” the SP added.
Of at least 51 complaints filed at the booth so far, nearly 80% are of land-grabbing, it is learnt. In the Sandeshkhali police station area, more than 150 complaints have been filed, sources said.
“We have filed a total of 35 FIRs, including the one against Shahjahan Sheikh, based on these complaints,” said another senior police official.
Monday’s incident of vandalism took place at around 11 am when a group of villagers, mostly women, barged into the house of Sankar Sardar before damaging and setting it on fire. The house was partially burnt.
“My husband was not in Sandeshkhali at the time of the incident. We always keep our doors locked since trouble started here. They tried to break open the lock but failed. Thereafter policemen came here,” Sankar’s wife Shibani Sardar told The Indian Express.
“My father never did anything wrong. The allegations that he grabbed land are false. We are living in fear and the party (TMC) is not standing with us,” said Sankar’s daughter Susmita.
The protesting villagers alleged that Ajit Maity, a close aide of Shahjahan Sheikh and his brother Sirajuddin Sheikh, grabbed their lands and drained salty water there to turn them them fisheries. When Maity’s house was vandalised on Friday, he took shelter in a civic volunteer’s house after being chased by the protesting villagers.
State minister Partha Bhowmik on Sunday claimed that Maity was not associated with the TMC. “He is no longer our party leader. We have already suspended him. people will naturally be angry if he has done something wrong.”