Attack on ED in Bengal: Lookout Notice Against Shahjahan Likely To Foil His 'Escape Abroad' Plan

Trinamool Congress leader and former Bongaon Municipality Chairman, Shankar Adhya has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a probe into the ration distribution scam. Raids started at Adhya’s house in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district on Friday morning, and so far Rs 8 Lakhs have been recovered from him, officials said.

State food minister Jyotipriyo Mallick has already been arrested in connection with the multi-crore ration distribution scam.

Meanwhile, the caretaker of TMC leader Sheikh Shahjahan‘s house has also filed an FIR against ED for “coming and breaking the lock” without permission.

So far, three FIRs have been filed in the case– one by ED against all the accused, another suo motu FIR by West Bengal police on the entire incident and the third by Shahjahan’s caretaker.

According to sources, ED may issue a lookout notice against Shahjahan to prevent his ‘escape abroad’ plan. “Shajahan was there when the ED team reached his house. He was not absconding, but after yesterday’s incident he is not seen anywhere,” they said.

Attack on ED in Bengal

Adhya’s arrest came a day after ED raided at least 15 places in the state in connection with the ration distribution scam.

However, ED and accompanying media were attacked when it raided the premises of block-level TMC leader Sheikh Shahjahan in North 24 Parganas district in connection with the case.

Shahjahan is considered to be a close aide of state minister Jyotipriyo Mallick.

A large number of TMC loyalists first gheraoed the ED officials and the central forces personnel who accompanied them when they reached Sheikh’s residence in the Sandeshkhali area in the morning and demonstrated before assaulting them and forcing them to leave the area, an officer said.

Giving chilling details about the attack, the Enforcement Directorate has said the mob consisted of 800-1,000 people and that there was an “intention to cause death”.

Three ED officials were severely injured in the attack. As per the agency, people in the mob also robbed its personnel of their belongings, including mobile phones, wallets and laptops.

ED officers left their damaged vehicles there and had to move out of Sandeskhali in auto-rickshaws and two-wheelers.

‘Being Framed’, Claims Family

ED also raided the residence of Adhya’s father-in-law. While sleuths were arresting the TMC leader, they were again attacked by a mob. The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) team deployed in the area had to step in and resort to lathi change before agency officials could escort Adhya out of the locality.

Adhya’s wife, Jyosna, has alleged that her husband was arrested despite cooperating with officials and is being framed.

“Yesterday they came in the morning we cooperated with them but at 12.30 night they told us that they would arrest him because of Jyotipriyo Mallick. He has been framed and these are false things,” she said.

The ED officers, who conducted raids at the residence of Adhya’s in-laws, as well as two of his associates, left after 12 hours.

They collected a few documents and bank details and spoke to the locals. Search operations at two other places, including an ice cream factory belonging to a close aide of the TMC leader in Bongaon, continued until 10 pm on Friday.

“We faced a lot of non-cooperation from the local residents. That is the reason it took so much time for us to complete the search operations,” an ED official said.

ED to Prepare Two Sets of Reports on Attack

ED officers are preparing two sets of reports on the attacks on their colleagues by a mob during a raid. The officers said the reports will be sent to their New Delhi office by Saturday, and their next course of action will be decided by their seniors there.

“We are preparing two sets of reports on Friday’s attack on our team during the raid at Trinamool Congress leader Sahajahan Sheikh’s residence at Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas. We will include every detail of the attack, how we were forced to abandon the assignment and flee from the place, and the damage to our vehicles. We will also include photographs and video grabs of the attack,” the official told news agency PTI.

Political Row

The clash triggered a Centre vs state row and deepened cracks within the Opposition alliance. The attack also drew a fierce condemnation by Governor CV Ananda Bose who said the state is not a “banana republic.”

TMC termed the incident “a BJP conspiracy” and claimed “unruly elements attached with the central agencies provoked locals”. Meanwhile, the BJP attacked the ruling party’s government for “lawlessness in Bengal” and called it “a threat to national security.”

Reacting sharply to the incident, BJP co-incharge for political affairs in West Bengal Amit Malviya wrote on X, “This is how lawless Bengal is.”

“Continuance of the TMC government in West Bengal is a national security threat,” he said.

The BJP leader claimed, “Shahjahan Sheikh, in particular, is close to Abhishek Banerjee, nephew of CM Mamata Banerjee, who is also the Home Minister of Bengal.”

“It is likely that several of those who came out to attack the probe agency officials are illegal migrants, who have been patronised by the local TMC leaders, to serve as their vote bank,” Malviya added.

BJP leaders in the state also demanded a probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and sought Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s resignation, suggesting that Rohingya immigrants were part of the crowd.

On the other hand, TMC MP Santanu Sen alleged that the officials of the federal agency ‘provoked’ the locals which led to a counter-reaction from the people.

“The officers of the Central investigation agency surrounded by the Central forces provoked the local people. That’s why there were counter-reactions continuously,” he said.

Sen also said that the people of the country are ‘frustrated’ with actions taken by the central agencies which are being ‘monitored from Delhi’.

“The real fact is the people of India are frustrated watching this deep-rooted conspiracy engineered and monitored from Delhi daily and that too in the case of TMC in West Bengal…On the contrary, the person who’s posting all this on social media is topping the list of corruption. He was found taking money before the camera. His other family members are accused of corruption but no action was taken against them because they belong to BJP,” Sen added.

BJP Digs Out TMC Man’s Old Video

BJP’s Amit Malviya also slammed TMC for coming out in support of Sheikh Shahjahan, who allegedly, in a recent speech, claimed “CBI and ED wouldn’t be able to even touch his hair”

Taking to X, Malviya also posted an old video, purportedly of Shahjahan’s speech threatening local BJP leader and central agencies of his ‘anger’, and wrote, “Sheikh Shahjahan has all the trappings of Anubroto Mondal, Mamata Banerjee’s pet henchman, who is now in jail… Shahjahan will meet the same fate, and soon.”

“In a public speech on 1st Jan 2024, Shahjahan claimed that CBI and ED wouldn’t be able to even touch his ‘hair’… He also asked everyone to pray so that he doesn’t get angry or else he will break teeth of BJP workers and leaders, execute them after 2024 (since TMC controls Govt in Bengal) and rip skin off their bodies,’ he added.

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan also condemned the mob attacks and said people with no respect for law and those afraid of going to jail for their misdeeds carry out such attacks on probe agencies

TMC Recalls Attack On West Bengal Police In UP

Hitting back at the BJP, the Trinamool Congress recalled an incident in 2017, when the team of West Bengal police and the state unit of CID was attacked in UP’s Aligarh, where they went to arrest Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) leader who threatened to kill West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee.

Taking to X, TMC spokesperson Tanmoy Ghosh asked, “Did anyone question Yogi Adityanath? Did the governor give any threatening bytes to media on imposing President rule? Did anyone question law and order of Uttar Pradesh?”