Hours after his arrest, the TMC suspended him for six years.
Sheikh was taken into custody a day after the Calcutta High Court said that he could be arrested by the CBI, the ED or the West Bengal Police. When Sheikh’s lawyer approached the High Court after the arrest on Thursday to seek urgent hearing of a bail plea, the court refused to grant it and said it had “no sympathy” for the TMC leader. It asked his lawyer to appear before the court on Monday.
After his arrest, he was taken to a court in North 24 Parganas’s Basirhat, which sent him to 10-day police custody.
He had been absconding since January 5 after a team of ED officials was attacked by a mob of his supporters near his residence in Sandeshkhali.
“During an ED raid, ED officials were hurt in an attack. The ED deputy director filed a complaint in Nazat police station (in Sandeshkhali) on the matter, and we began an investigation. Later, they requested the court to put a stay on the investigation, and that was granted. This is why we had legal obstruction in taking action in that case,” Supratim Sarkar, Additional Director General (ADG) of Police, South Bengal, said at a press conference.
After Sheikh was produced in court, he was brought to the West Bengal Police’s Crime Investigation Department (CID) headquarters in Kolkata. According to sources, CID will now investigate the case.
He was arrested from Minakha, about 30 kilometres from Sandeshkhali, under Indian Penal Code sections 333 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt), 307 (attempt to murder), 392 (robbery), 143 and 147/148 (unlawful assembly), 395 and 397 (dacoity), 426 and 427 (causing mischief) , 440 (causing mischief with intent to cause death), 342 (wrongful confinement), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 109 (abetment), 189 (injury and threat to public servant), and under sections of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.
Sheikh’s lawyer Raja Bhaumik said, “Most of them (charges against Sheikh) are non-bailable. The main allegations they have brought is that when ED officials went to raid his property, locals attacked them allegedly under Shahjahan’s influence, and hampered their investigation. (They also alleged that) few of their things had gone missing during that time,” Bhaumik said.
Police said Sheikh was arrested from Minakha, about 30 kilometres from Sandeshkhali, early on Thursday. According to police, a team had been monitoring Sheikh’s activities for several days leading to the arrest.
Amir Ali Gazi, an associate of Sheikh’s, was also arrested by a special police team.
Meanwhile, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh demanded the arrest of BJP leader Suvendhu Adhikari.
Sheikh and his aides are also among the key accused in cases of sexual harassment and landgrab that surfaced following the January 5 incident in Sandeshkhali.
Regarding these allegations, ADG Sarkar said, “…All of these were incidents dating back two-three years. If a complaint is registered for a case that took place two-three years ago, it takes time to investigate the same.”
Sarkar questioned why the ED had not arrested Sheikh. He also said there had been “legal hurdles” that prevented the police from arresting Sheikh earlier. “The arrest came only after the court lifted the stay order,” he said.
However, the Calcutta High Court had on Monday clarified that there was no stay on Sheikh’s arrest, and that it had only stayed a single-judge order on February 7 to constitute a Special Investigation Team to probe allegations that ED officers were attacked while trying to conduct raids at Sheikh’s residence. During the hearing, the Bench had also pulled up the state government for failing to arrest Sheikh.
Meanwhile, police have enforced prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in areas under Sandeshkhali and Nazat police stations until March 3.
TMC leader Derek O’Brief said at a press conference that the party had suspended Sheikh for six years. “As always, we walk the talk. We have set examples in the past, and we are doing that today,” he said, and went on to dare the BJP to suspend their leaders who have corruption cases and other criminal cases against them.
West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose welcomed the arrest. “I told you there would be light at the end of the tunnel. That is democracy. We waited, but it has been done. This is a lesson for everyone. Now, let’s hope a new dawn of lawfulness will come back to Bengal,” he said.
On Monday, the Governor had given a 72-hour “deadline” to the state government to arrest Sheikh.
TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh demanded the arrest of BJP leader Suvendhu Adhikari. “The state police have acted. Now, let the CBI arrest Suvendu Adhikari and Alchemist Chit Fund brand ambassador Mithun Chakraborty in the Narada case. Let Brij Bhushan, the hero of barbarism, be arrested. Let the ED catch the country’s robbers,” he said.
At the same time, the BJP suggested the arrest was the result of the party’s continuous agitation over the matter.
West Bengal BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said, “Due to the continuous agitation by the BJP, this government was compelled to arrest Sheikh Shahjahan. The government was in denial mode, they were not even accepting that anything had happened. I had already said that we would compel the government to arrest Sheikh Shahjahan, and today, due to the agitation of the BJP and the women of Sandeshkhali, the government and (Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee were compelled to arrest him.”