Justice Jay Sengupta of the high court gave a verbal instruction to the state on Thursday to not take any coercive action till Monday against Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers who had gone to raid the house of Trinamul leader Shahjahan Sheikh and are facing criminal charges lodged by the state police.
The ordered followed a petition by the ED seeking the court’s intervention in the case lodged against the officers of the agency who had gone to raid the leader’s house in Sandeshkhali in North 24-Parganas last Friday and were attacked by villagers.
Based on a complaint by Shahjahan’s family, the Bengal police started a case against the ED officers under IPC sections related to house trespass, criminal intimidation, mischief, outrage of modesty of women, theft and common intention.
The lawyer representing the central agency, Dhiraj Trivedi, had earlier submitted in the court that the ED had come to know about the FIR against its officers through media reports. The state police, he said, had neither shared a copy of the FIR with the agency nor uploaded it on their website.
“The ED officers went to execute a court order. They were just performing their duty. However, they were assaulted and beaten up. But the police have lodged a case against the officers,” Trivedi submitted.
Justice Sengupta did not hear the matter on Thursday. After a brief reference to the case, he scheduled the next hearing for January 15 (Monday). He also verbally asked the state not to take any coercive action against ED officers till that day.
The Bengal police have lodged three cases in connection with the Sandeshkhali incident.
One has been lodged against the ED officers who went to raid Shahjahan’s house, based on a complaint by his family.
The second case has been started suo motu against an “unknown mob” who had attacked the ED officers and media personnel who were tailing the officers. The third has been started based on a complaint by the ED against Shahjahan and his alleged associates.
No one has been arrested in connection with any of the cases.