Nineteen days after officials of the Enforcement Directorate came under attack while attempting to conduct a search operation at Trinamul Congress leader Shahajahan Sheikh’s residence in Sandeshkhali, North 24 Parganas, in connection with the multi-crore state ration distribution scam case, the agency raided the same premises once again on Wednesday morning. This time, with reinforced security cover, both from the central armed troops as well as from the state police.
Despite a total reversal of scenario with an uneventful operation this time around, sources confirmed that the ED virtually drew a blank after breaking open into Shahajahan’s residence. Three empty briefcases, virtually empty cupboards having no more than ordinary clothing and a kitchen full of household utensils were all the agency officials could find in the first five hours of search, which was in progress at the time this report was filed.
Unable to lay its hands on anything significant in the premises, the ED put up a summons notice asking the Trinamul leader-in-hiding to appear before the investigating agency at its Salt Lake office on January 29.
The owner of the premises and the prime suspect in the Sandeshkhali assault case, Shahajahan, continues to abscond. The development begged the question of whether the suspect, besides managing to evade police net for 19 days, also succeeded in removing incriminating evidence from the premises.
A team of thirteen ED officials, led by an officer of the joint director rank, reached Shahajahan’s residence at Akunjipara More adjacent to the Dhamakhali Road in the Sarberia area of Sandeshkhali at around 8 AM. Besides being accompanied by around 125 central armed central forces jawans who secured the area the moment the team landed at the said premises while state armed police from the block and RAF provided an additional layer of security cover over a 100-meter radius from the house. Together, the forces converted the region into an impenetrable fortress. Central forces jawans also conducted route marches in the vicinity during the raid.
The agency took help of a locksmith to break open locks put up on one of the entry gates to the house. A videographer accompanied the ED team inside the house to record search proceedings. The Bengal police, on the other hand, had their own videographer to record proceedings outside the house while the raids continued inside. Five witnesses, including two local residents who were deployed as witnesses by the local police, also formed part of the raiding team.
The fact that nothing significant was recovered warranted the ED to focus on footage of the last few days from the CCTV cameras which were installed on the premises on court orders. Sleuths, though, expressed doubts on whether anything worthwhile would be revealed by the tapes since the cameras were installed only on January 17, a good 12 days after the previous raid. The window of virtually no vigilance at Shahajahan’s place for a significant period of time, sources opined, may have allowed the suspect or his accomplices to remove vital evidence from the premises.
The raiding officers were seen on the rooftop of Shahajahan’s house, presumably awaiting further orders from agency headquarters in Delhi, after failing to secure any significant evidence in connection with the case. The leading officer of the team also visited the adjacent houses of the suspect’s relatives looking for a particular key to Shahajahan’s property, but had to return empty handed.
On January 5, widespread violence broke out in the area after local villagers gathered in large numbers and attacked the raiding ED officials, their security personnel and even members of the media who had accompanied the search team for news coverage. Vehicles were vandalised, equipment destroyed and three agency officials and media personnel left severely injured by miscreants who were allegedly summoned by the Trinamul leader at large to prevent the agency from carrying out the raid.
The ED later submitted in court that while Shahajahan’s cell phone location confirmed that he was still present in his house which was locked from inside and had, in fact, picked the first call made to him by the raiding officers, the subsequent 28 phone calls made to him went unanswered. The agency also maintained that Sheikh himself had summoned the Trinamul-sheltered miscreants to carry out the attack which forced the officials to flee the spot before himself vanishing into thin air. It also questioned the “inactive” role of the state police while coming under attack at another part of the district on the same day.
So far seven people have been arrested by the local Nazat Police Station in connection with the Sandeshkhali violence while the police have also lodged an FIR against the ED on the basis of a complaint lodged by the caretaker of the suspect’s house. While the state police have come under scanner of the Calcutta High Court for its inability to nab Shahajahan for so long, the court has directed a joint Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and West Bengal Police to probe an attack on the ED officials at Sandeshkhali. That order, though, has already been challenged before an appeals bench of the court by the Directorate and has appealed for a holistic investigation by the CBI without interference of the state police.
