Nineteen days after an Enforcement Directorate team was attacked while conducting searches at the residence of Trinamool Congress leader Sheikh Shahjahan at Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas, a team of the Central agency held searches at the premises of the absconding Trinamool leader on Wednesday.
The search at the residence of Sheikh Shahjahan was held for six hours. The ED pasted a notice on the house of the Trinamool leader asking him to appear before the agency on January 29. The ED team was accompanied by 120 personnel of Central armed police forces.
Large number of from Basirhat Police District and the local Nazat police station guarded outside the premises and along the stretch leading to the gate of the residence of the Trinamool leader. The raids on the Trinamool leader residence was in connection with the public distribution scam in the State. Minister Jyoti Priya Mallick was arrested in connection with the scam in October 2023 and remains behind the bars.
Nothing much was recovered from the premises after 19 days of the raid. Three ED personnel had sustained injuries during a similar raid on January 5. The ED teams along with Central forces were attacked by a mob of hundreds of people and chased away.
Mr. Sheikh remains on the run and the State police and Central agencies are unable to trace him. Last week the Calcutta High Court had directed a joint Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and West Bengal Police to probe an attack on officials of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) at Sandeshkhali. The SIT, with officers from both the CBI and the West Bengal Police, will submit its report by February 12, the Court said.
