The Calcutta High Court clarified on Wednesday that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) can arrest absconding Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Sheikh Shahjahan and not only just the West Bengal police alone.
Recently, Shahjahan has been in the news as he was accused of sexual assault and land-grabbing activities in Sandeshkhali, besides having close ties to an accused in the ration scam case.
The clarification was done after the ED and CBI told the Court that they had serious reservations about West Bengal Police investigating the allegations against the TMC leader.
Advocate General Kishore Datta mentioned the matter before a bench led by Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, seeking some clarifications in an earlier order passed on February 26.
Deputy Solicitor General (DSG) Dhiraj Trivedi during the hearing appeared for the ED and submitted that if the local police are permitted to investigate the case, they might destroy the evidence.
“The single-judge, in the order of constituting an SIT to probe attack on ED officers, had asked the local police not to probe the case. We have an apprehension that the local police will dilute the entire case against him,” Trivedi told the judges.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, weighed in and submitted that the central agency has serious grievances against the State Police in investigating the case.
“Our apprehension is that if the State Police arrests Shahjahan, they might dilute the case against him. Ultimately, if the probe is transferred to the CBI. They even want him to be arrested but not by the wrong agency. We have a serious grievance against the State agency. We are saying that the State Police are colluding and once they are colluding they would not let the case reach its logical end,” the ASG submitted.
The ASG made it clear to the Court that the CBI does not want a joint investigation with the State Police and will want to proceed independently. He, therefore, urged the bench to hear the submissions on this aspect on February 29. However, the bench said it would hear the case on March 4, as fixed earlier.
The bench, however, proceeded to clarify that both the CBI as well as the ED were free to arrest Shahajahan.
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