The high court on Wednesday stayed the ongoing trial for three murders in Sandeshkhali in 2019, in which the alleged prime suspect was Trinamul Congress leader Shahjahan Sheikh but his name was allegedly not mentioned in the chargesheet.
Justice Jay Sengupta on Wednesday issued an order staying the ongoing proceedings and scheduled the next hearing for February 22.
Last week, the leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, had accompanied the wives of two of the deceased men who had submitted a petition in the court seeking re-investigation of the triple murders by an “independent agency”.
In 2019, two men from Sandeshkhali were found murdered and one man was allegedly abducted. The remains of the third person were found near a water body in 2021.
The women who had filed a petition in the court last week has alleged that though Shahjahan was named as a suspect in the triple murders, his name was not mentioned in the chargesheet.
Justice Sengupta said the petition appeared to be “very serious in nature”.
“These are very serious allegations and there is nothing wrong that the families have sought a fresh probe by an independent agency,” Justice Sengupta said.
The case and the new petition emerged after a team of officers from the Enforcement Directorate went to raid the house of Shahjahan Sheikh in Sandeshkhali block of
North 24-Parganas on January 5 in connection with the alleged irregularities in the public distribution system in Bengal.