The Central Bureau of Investigation Thursday lodged a First Information Report (FIR) to probe the land grabbing and sexual harassment allegations in Sandeshkhali. In the FIR, the central probe agency has named five people.
This comes weeks after the CBI had taken over the probe into the January 5 attack on Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials in Sandeshkhali, as well as custody of main accused Shahjahan Sheikh.
Sandeshkhali, in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district, had been at the centre of BJP-TMC politics since January 5, when ED officials were assaulted while conducting a search at the home of Sheikh, a local strongman and TMC leader. The ED team had gone there in connection with an investigation into alleged irregularities in the state’s public distribution system.
As Sheikh went on the run after the incident, women in the area had raised allegations of sexual abuse by TMC leaders for years. The women said they were called for late-night meetings under the garb of self-help group gatherings and harassed by TMC men. They said they were speaking up now since Sheikh was on the run. Simultaneously, allegations were raised that families, many from tribal communities, had lost agricultural land to TMC men who forcibly converted it to fisheries.
Sheikh was arrested by the state police on February 29, a day after the Calcutta High Court had said that he could be arrested by the CBI, ED or state police. Soon after his arrest, the TMC had announced his suspension for six years.