“TMC will try to save Sheikh Shahjahan at any cost”: BJP leader Dilip Ghosh

Barasat (West Bengal) [India], March 6 (ANI): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Dilip Ghosh on Wednesday slammed the West Bengal government after state police refused to hand over custody of Sheikh Shahjahan – the former Trinamool strongman accused of extortion, land grab, and sexual assault in Sandeshkhali – to the CBI, saying that the ruling party will try to save Sheikh at any cost.

Ghosh, while coming down heavily on the ruling party further, said that the state government was ‘compelled’ to arrest Sheikh due to the pressure of media and protests.

“TMC tried two months to protect him but due to the pressure from media and protests, they had to arrest him…They (TMC) will try to protect him at any cost. His property worth crores is being seized but TMC is trying to save him from ED…” he said.

Meanwhile, the West Bengal government on Wednesday sought an urgent hearing of its plea in the Supreme Court challenging a Calcutta High Court order that directed a CBI probe into the Sandeshkhali matter pertaining to an attack on Enforcement Directorate officials in Sandeshkhali on January 5 this year.

Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, “Urgency is that they wanted overnight compliance in an interim order.”

Earlier on Tuesday, the West Bengal government moved the Supreme Court against the Calcutta High Court order directing a CBI probe into the Sandeshkhali matter, which pertains to the attack on ED officials.

Earlier this year, in January, ED officials came under attack in the North 24 Parganas district while they were on their way to raid the homes of former Bongaon Municipality chairman Shankar Adhya and Trinamool Congress leader Sheikh Shahjahan in connection with the ration ‘scam’ case.

After weeks of no action, on February 29 Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Sheikh Shahjahan was arrested by West Bengal police after which West Bengal’s Basirhat Court remanded him to 10-day police custody.

Following Shahjahan’s arrest, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claimed that he had been “put under the hospitality” of the state police in a bid to avoid arrest by the ED and the CBI.

Tension rose in Sandeshkhali after hundreds of women on the island came out on the streets against Shahjahan Sheikh, accusing him of perpetrating sexual abuse and other excesses on them along with his henchmen.