The Bengal director-general of police, Rajeev Kumar, on Thursday promised “action” against anyone found to have broken the law in Sandeshkhali in North 24-Parganas.
However, since January 5, the man allegedly at the centre of all the trouble on the island, around 75km from Calcutta, has been missing.
The police have failed to arrest Trinamul Congress strongman Shahjahan Sheikh, though some of his associates are behind bars by now and many others have been named in allegations by villagers.
Kumar, who went to Sandeshkhali on Wednesday, stayed overnight to take stock of the law and order situation there.
Speaking to reporters before he left for the city on Thursday morning, he said: “Through you (media persons), we want to tell the people here (at Sandeshkhali) that whatever problems they have... whether it is a land-related problem or if anyone has tortured them, we will take action. Whoever has broken the law, action will be taken against them.”
The police said they were probing two specific complaints of gang rape against local Trinamul leader Shib Prasad Hazra and his alleged associates. Hazra’s name features in two formal complaints of gang rape.
Another Trinamul leader, Uttam Sardar, has been named in one of the gang rape complaints. Both are in custody.
The names of several Trinamul leaders feature in the two complaints.
Despite the arrests, many in the area are seething because Shahjahan is still at large.
Sandeshkhali has been in turmoil since January 5, when an Enforcement Directorate team that had gone to raid the house of Shahjahan at Sarberia village, in Sandeshkhali, in connection with alleged irregularities in the public distribution system was beaten back by villagers.
Last Saturday, after the police had drawn the first gang-rape FIR following a statement before a magistrate in a court by a woman from Sandeshkhali, DGP Kumar held a press conference where he spoke on the lines similar to his comments on Thursday.
Action will be taken against anyone who is found to have done wrong, he had said.
Asked about Shahjahan’s arrest last Saturday, Kumar had said: “There is a case by the ED. Have they arrested him? The case registered by us... they (the ED) have gone and they have got it stopped.”
Kumar was possibly referring to the central agency’s appeal before Calcutta High Court that prompted the state police to stop the investigation into the attack on the ED team on January 5.
The ED had accused Shahjahan of instigating the mob that attacked the raiding team.
The probe is stuck over who should conduct it. A single-judge bench of the high court had ordered a joint probe by the state police and the CBI. The the ED and the police both appealed against the order.
The ED wants a central agency to conduct the probe, while the state police want to investigate it independently. The appeals are pending.