Kolkata:

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday handed custody of Sheikh Shahjahan – the previous Trinamool strongman accused of extortion, land seize, and sexual assault in Bengal’s Sandeshkhali – to the CBI.

The court docket held the state police to be “totally biased” and known as for a “fair, honest, and complete investigation” into the allegations in opposition to Shahjahan. “There can be no better case than this… which requires to be transferred (and) to be investigated by the CBI,” the bench noticed.

The Bengal authorities moved swiftly to problem the order within the Supreme Court, however its enchantment for an instantaneous listening to has been turned down. The prime court docket stated it might proceed per the foundations and requested senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi to say the plea earlier than its Registrar-General.

A High Court bench led by Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam put aside an earlier order organising a particular investigative group – of CBI and state police officers – and transferred the case to the central company.

Both the Enforcement Directorate and the state moved separate challenges to that order; the ED needed the case to be given to the CBI solely, whereas the state needed the police to deal with the probe.

Sheikh Shahjahan had been on the run since January 5, when a group of Enforcement Directorate officers had been attacked by a mob of his supporters whereas en path to conduct raids.

The assault and Shahjahan’s disappearance sparked an enormous political row; the ruling Trinamool was focused by the BJP, which accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s celebration of defending him.

On the run for 55 days, Shahjahan was lastly arrested by a particular police group and suspended from the Trinamool for six years. His arrest got here three days after the High Court ordered his arrest.

READ | Sandeshkhali Accused Shahjahan, On The Run For 55 Days, Arrested

An offended court docket was responding to allegations by Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee, who stated the judiciary had “tied” the state’s fingers and that his celebration was not “guarding” the accused.

“I want to put this on record… Trinamool is not guarding Shahjahan. Judiciary is. Lift the stay and see what police does…” he had stated in response to the BJP’s allegations.

READ | Arrest Trinamool Strongman Sheikh Shahjahan, Says Calcutta High Court

The court docket shot again, saying, “Shahjahan obviously needs to be arrested.” “We clarify there is no stay on arrest in any proceeding. He is absconding,” the court docket declared.

READ | “Mutual Adjustment”: BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari On Shahjahan’s Arrest

BJP chief Suvendu Adhikari – a former Trinamool chief and shut aide of Ms Banerjee – declared, “This is not an arrest; this is a mutual adjustment.”

The Shahjahan-Sandeshkhali row was the main focus of a pointy assault by Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he was in Bengal final week. Mr Modi additionally accused the Trinamool of protecting its former member, and slammed Ms Banerjee for valuing “some people” over the struggling of ladies.

READ | PM’s Big Charge Against Mamata, INDIA Over Sandeshkhali

Referring to the celebration’s ‘Maa, Maati, Manush‘ (Mother, Land, and People) slogan, he declared, “What has been done to women in Sandeshkhali by Trinamool… has made the country angry.”

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