A key witness in the case of an attack on ED officials in Sandeshkhali in 2024 in which former TMC leader Sheikh Shahjahan is the prime accused, was severely injured when a truck collided with his car in North 24 Parganas district on Wednesday.
Bholanath Ghosh, who was earlier associated with Shahjahan Sheikh, was on his way to testify in court in another case when the accident took place around 8.45 am on a stretch of the Basanti Highway.
His 32-year-old son, Satyajit, and the driver of his car, Sahanur Molla (27), were killed in the accident.
Ghosh’s family alleged foul play, accusing Sheikh Shahjahan of orchestrating the accident.
“They had threatened to kill my father earlier. This is no accident — it’s 100 per cent murder,” Bholanath’s elder son, Biswajit, alleged.
“Sabita Roy and Muslim Sheikh carried out Sheikh Shahjahan’s order,” he added.
Muslim Sheikh is the vice-president of the Najat Panchayat Samiti.
Both Muslim Sheik and Sabita Roy denied the charge, calling it “100 per cent lie”.
Recounting the accident, witnesses said a ten-wheeler truck came from behind and rammed into Ghosh’s car, hurtling it into a roadside ditch. The four-wheeler was crushed, trapping all three occupants inside. Witnesses said the truck driver allegedly jumped out soon after the accident, got onto a waiting motorcycle, and fled.
Police said that while Basanti Highway is accident-prone, the stretch near Boiramari petrol pump in Najat police station limits, where the accident took place, is not marked as such. “The road there is straight and wide,” said a police officer.
“We are not sure whether it was an accident. We are considering every possibility in the investigation, especially why the collision occurred where there is no CCTV coverage, and how the driver fled immediately on a motorbike,” said a senior police officer, adding that they are probing whether Sheikh Shahjahan “issued instructions from jail”.
Meanwhile, Ghosh was released from the hospital after he was administered primary treatment.
“I was sitting next to the driver, and my son was seated behind him. The truck came and hit our car at full speed on its right side. I cannot say anything more except that this wasn’t an accident. I will know more once I return home and speak to the police,” he said.
“We were on our way to the court to appear in a false case of rape, which Shahjahan had filed against us. I think we were being followed from the moment we left our home,” he added.
Meanwhile, BJP leader Sajal Ghosh also called it “a planned murder”. “It’s not an accident. It’s an attempt to disguise murder as an accident. The crash happened, and immediately a bike came. The driver got on it and disappeared. Let there be an impartial investigation,” the BJP leader said.
Sheikh Shahjahan was arrested by police on February 29, 2024, after remaining a fugitive for 55 days following the attack on Enforcement Directorate officials by his supporters when the central agency team reached his house in Sandeshkhali on January 5 to question the TMC leader in the multi-crore ration scam.
Large-scale allegations of forceful land acquisition and sexual assault on local women against Shahjahan and his followers in Sandeshkhali soon began to surface, leading to a major political storm ahead of the Lok Sabha elections that year.