Calcutta High Court orders joint SIT probe into attack on ED officers at Sandeshkhali

A joint SIT of the CBI and West Bengal Police to probe an attack on officials of the Enforcement Directorate at Sandeshkhali. 

The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed a joint Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and West Bengal Police to probe an attack on officials of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) at Sandeshkhali. Three ED officers sustained injuries in the attack on January 5, when an ED team had gone to conduct a raid at the residence of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Sheikh Shahjahan. Justice Jay Sengupta directed a probe, which will consist of officers from both the State Police and also the CBI.

“The Superintendent of Police, Islampur will be the State’s nominee. Both the CBI and State will have an equal number of personnel in the SIT, which shall be at liberty to requisition Central Forces. The SIT will submit its report before this court by February 12,” the court said.

The order comes 11 days after the attack on the ED team. The prime accused in the attack, Trinamool Congress leader Sheikh Shahjahan, is still absconding. Despite assurances by the Director General of State Police Rajeev Kumar that those who have held law in their own hands would not be spared, Mr. Shahjahan remains on the run. The West Bengal Police has arrested six persons in connection with the attack.

The court said that one Superintendent of Police (SP) rank officer of the CBI, the name of whom the agency was directed to give by Thursday, and Jaspreet Singh, SP of the Islampur police district, will jointly head the SIT.

A huge row has erupted after the attack on ED officials, who had gone to search the house of Mr. Sheikh at Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district in connection with their probe into the money trail in a ration distribution scam case in West Bengal. The team of the ED’s officers as well as accompanying Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were attacked by a mob of hundreds of people.

The ED had approached the Calcutta High Court, alleging that the West Bengal Police was not probing the incident in a fair manner. The ED in October 2023 arrested West Bengal Minister Jyoti Priya Mallick in connection with the public distribution system (PDS) scam.

The absconding Trinamool leader is considered a close aide of the arrested Minister. According to the ED, the magnitude of the PDS scam is to the tune of ₹10,000 crore. “The investigation carried out so far indicates that the magnitude of the scam is enormous, and the proceeds of crime received and further transferred and layered by one suspected person itself are suspected to be at-least to the tune of Rs. 9,000 – 10,000 Crore and out of that, Rs. 2000 Crore were also suspected to be transferred to Dubai either directly or through Bangladesh,” the ED said in a press statement on January 5.