Sheikh Shahjahan spoke with TMC MLA Sukumar Mahata before attack on ED officials: CBI
Telegraph | 10 March 2024
Sheikh Shahjahan had spoken to several persons, including Sandeshkhali Trinamul Congress MLA Sukumar Mahata, on the day of the attack on a visiting team of Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials on January 5, the preliminary investigation by the CBI has apparently revealed.
The call detail records of Shahjahan's two mobile phones, a CBI source said, have shown that the former Trinamul strongman in Sandeshkhali made over 20 calls from his two mobile phones to some of his aides and followers. The records also showed that he had received several calls on the day of the attack.
Among those who had called up the North 24-Parganas zilla parishad member was Mahata, who had been re-elected from the Sandeshkhali seat in 2021 by a margin of over 30,000 votes.
The conversation lasted for over one-and-a-half minutes, CBI sources said.
Shahjahan though has maintained he did not call up anyone on the fateful morning when apart from the ED officers, several members of central forces and journalists were attacked by a section of villagers led by women.
Mahata told journalists he had called up Shahjahan on the morning of January 5. It was around 8.30am and the call to Shahjahan was made to ensure there was no trouble in Sandeshkhali, he said.
"I had called up Shahjahan to tell him that no trouble should break out in Sandeshkhali and ensure that no one was beaten up. That was the brief for me from the party," Mahata said on Friday afternoon, around the time when a CBI team visited Sandeshkhali for the second day on the trot.
"I had woken up late and by the time, I called Shahjahan, ED officials and a section of the media had already been attacked. Actually, I am not so actively involved in the party. People have voted for me and I do whatever I am supposed to deliver as the MLA," Mahata said.
"I don't crave too much influence. Eta ami kori na (I don't do this). Shahjahan told me he wasn't there."
Mahata had earlier said Shahjahan hadn't left Sandeshkhali and was in touch with his lawyers.
Shahjahan, who hadn't uttered a word since he remained untraceable on January 5, denied charges against him on Friday.
Asked about several allegations that had been levelled against him, the Sandeshkhali leader said they were all false.
"All false, all false. Allalh is there. It will be proved. Justice will be delivered," Shajahan said while on his way out of Nizam Palace for his mandatory health check-up at ESI Hospital in Joka.
The CBI team was in Sandeshkhali on Friday with forensic experts and some of the ED officials who had been attacked.
The team broke open the seal leading to Shahjahan's house in Akunjipara before stepping inside.
A separate team took pictures using a three-dimensional scanner for the accurate location of Shahjahan's house and his office at his market complex.
Another set of officers took measurements of the width of the roads that the mob had allegedly taken to reach Shahjahan's house before launching the attack that had damaged a vehicle carrying CRPF personnel and left the visiting ED officials injured.
"We are collecting digital evidence as a part of the investigation process. The entire event has been recorded," said a senior CBI official.
"There are a few persons whom we have identified as some of those who had received calls from Shahjahan on the morning of the attack. They need to be questioned."
The CBI said in an official release that it had conducted searches in Sandeshkhali in connection with the January 5 attack.
"Assistance of forensic teams for forensic examination of the places of occurrence in the case of violence against ED officers on January 5, 2024, was also taken. Several incriminating documents and material exhibits have been seized during the searches," the release said.