Calcutta High Court transfers probe into attacks on ED officers by Shahjahan Sheikh's men to CBI

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) the probe into allegations that Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Shahjahan Sheikh and his men attacked officers of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) who had come for a raid..A Bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya directed,"Case papers of the said case be handed over to the CBI forthwith. Custody of Sheikh to be handed over to the CBI by 4:30 PM today.".Advocate General Kishore Datta sought a stay on the order for three days, which the Bench refused..On January 5 this year, around 200 local people are said to have surrounded and gheraoed ED officers who had arrived to raid Sheikh residence at Akunjipara in connection with the ration scam case.ED officers were injured during the ensuing clash. In the wake of this incident, the Governor of West Bengal CV Ananda Bose later called for the arrest of Sheikh.The West Bengal Police finally arrested Sheikh on February 29, after he evaded authorities for 55 days..On Monday (March 4), the Bench had asked the West Bengal Police to 'stay its hands' on the investigation till further orders.Deputy Solicitor General (DSG) Dhiraj Trivedi for the ED had pointed out that the probe in the case was already stayed by the same Bench last month. "The State Police was very much aware of this Court's order staying investigations in the said FIR yet they chose to arrest him under the said FIR. Now, he has been sent to police custody and the State is not probing anything and like this it will pass 15 days after which he will be sent to judicial custody and the CBI would not get his custody," Trivedi had submitted. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju too weighed in, saying that the State Police purposely arrested Sheikh in the said FIR and this showed 'malafide' on its part."Milords, the State could have arrested him in more than 40 FIRs pending against him. But they chose to arrest him in these two FIRs. The intention is only to defeat the FIRs and nothing else. We need his exclusive custody. All orders passed by this Court are defeated while arresting him and now he is merrily enjoying the custody and he is basking in the sun and have nothing to do. Thus, there is no purpose and this arrest is a farce. If there is no investigation during this custody period for 15 days then there will be nothing coming out," Raju argued. State Advocate General Kishore Datta, however, tried to justify the State Police's arrest of Sheikh in this case, saying that there was some 'misunderstanding' on the part of the local police. "Milords, it would be wrong understanding of your orders, on our part. Lordships had clarified earlier that stay is only on constitution of the SIT. We proceeded on the understanding that since the stay is only on forming of SIT, we can proceed with our probe," the AG submitted.