According to the ED’s submissions, made as part of its PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering) case against him, “Shahjahan and others… had created an atmosphere of terror by indulging in organised crime of giving threats of injury, murder, attempt to murder, extortion, etc, and also grabbed land of the general public and obtained illegal monetary gains/ benefits.”
According to the agency, Shahjahan ran a fishery company named Sabina in West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali. The agency, which questioned the company’s manager, submitted: “In 2019, Shahjahan conducted a meeting in Shahjahan market wherein he threatened all fish vendors in the market to sell fish through his firm only. He also threatened to shut their business if they did not listen. Sabina acquires 50% shrimp directly from fish vendors/ farmers, 10-15% shrimp from his (Shahjahan’s) own farmland, and 35-40% from shrimp farms illegally grabbed from villagers.”
In fact, during the February protests that had broken out in Sandeshkhali demanding Shahjahan’s arrest, one of the key allegations was how he and his supporters had grabbed acres upon acres of farmland and converted it to fisheries.
“Shahjahan had a team of persons… who used to sell shrimp to Sabina from land illegally acquired by Shahjahan… In reality, these people do not have any land in their name… Bank accounts of (these persons) were controlled and managed by Shahjahan. He would give directions to these persons for usage of the amount given to them by Sabina. This amount was used by (these persons) for purchase of land in their name on the instructions of Shahjahan, which are in real benami properties,” the ED submitted, elaborating on the alleged money laundering.
The ED also quoted a partner in an export company, which dealt with Shahjahan, as saying: “Shahjahan came to my office in 2020-21 and said he wanted to do business with my firm and wants to sell shrimps through Sabina. We started doing business from March 2021. However, after some time, he came to my office and told me I have to provide him some bogus entries, that is, he would provide cash to me and in return I will transfer the same amount through my firm to Sabina, showing them as genuine transactions for sale of shrimps. I refused, but he threatened to kill me and my family… Everyone is scared of him and being a father of two daughters, I was more scared.”
Shahjahan first made headlines on January 5, when an ED team that went to conduct searches at his residence in Sandeshkhali came under attack from his supporters. He then went under the radar for a month. On January 8, several women residents of Sandeshkhali took to the streets demanding his arrest and alleging that his aides and henchmen had been sexually harassing women for years.
As the pressure mounted on the TMC government, Shahjahan was arrested on February 29.