West Bengal Police totally biased, tried to shield Shahjahan Sheikh: Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday criticised the West Bengal Police for trying to shield Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Shahjahan Sheikh even as he evaded arrest for his role in the recent attack on Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers [Enforcement Directorate v. State of West Bengal]. .A Bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya said that despite a clear order restraining the West Bengal Police from proceeding with the investigation into the attacks, it transferred the first information report (FIR) in the case to the local CID. "Thus, this act of the State Police would be sufficient to hold that it is totally biased and every attempt is being made to delay the probe in order to protect the accused (Sheikh), who has been absconding for more than 50 days. The then absconding accused is stated to be a “strong man” in the locality and has very powerful connections in the ruling party...The State Police had played a hide and seek methodology in all probabilities to shield the accused, who undoubtedly is highly political influential person, who has demonstrable shown that he is and would be in a position to influence the probe if allowed to rest with the State Police," the judgment said..The Court today transferred the investigation into allegations that Sheikh and his aides attacked ED officers who had come for a raid, to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The ED was investigating Sheikh's involvement in a multi-crore ration distribution scam. In this light, the Court said,"Thus, what is required is a fair, honest and complete probe and thus alone will retain the public confidence in the impartial working of the State agencies. We have no hesitation in our mind to hold that this confidence has been shaken and there can be no better case than the case on hand which requires to be transferred to the CBI.".The Bench noted several flaws in the FIR registered suo motu by the local police. It said that several provisions of the IPC were not invoked against persons affiliated with Sheikh, who attacked the officers with bricks and stones. It went on to say,"It is beyond one’s comprehension that without a pre-planned effort more than thousand people or three thousand people...could have assembled in that area armed with deadly weapons to attack the ED officials and CRPF."The Court also agreed with the submission of the ED that the attack on its officers was underplayed by the West Bengal Police.Given the clout of Sheikh and in order to do complete justice, the Court found it fit to transfer the probe to the CBI. .Advocate General Kishore Dutta along with Advocate Pantu Deb Roy appeared for the West Bengal Police. Additional Solicitor General SV Raju and Deputy Solicitor General Dhiraj Trivedi along with Advocates Samrat Goswami, Ankit Khanna, Swapna Jha and Sohini Dey represented the ED. Additional Solicitor General Ashok Kr Chakraborty along with Advocate TP Acharyya represented the Union of India. .On January 5 this year, around 200 locals are said to have surrounded and gheraoed ED officers who had arrived to raid Sheikh residence at Akunjipara to question him in relation to 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.Sheikh was absconding for over 55 days, until his eventual arrest on February 29..[Read Judgment]