CBI to probe crimes against women, land grabbing in Sandeshkhali: Calcutta HC

The high court said all state officials must cooperate with the federal agency.

The Calcutta high court on Wednesday ordered the formation of a special investigation team (SIT) of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe into allegations of crimes against women and land grabbing in West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali area, said lawyers who attended the meeting.

The order was passed by the division bench of chief justice TS Sivagnanam and justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya. The bench was hearing a suo motu motion on these alleged offences and petitions seeking transfer of investigation from the local police to CBI.

The main accused, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Sheikh Shahjahan, and two TMC-run zilla parishad members, Uttam Sardar and Shibu Hazra, have been arrested by the state police.

Shahjahan, who was on the run for 55 days before being arrested on February 28, is now in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after the CBI questioned him for several days under orders of the high court.

He was arrested for allegedly masterminding an attack on an ED team that raided his home on January 5 in connection with the public distribution system (PDS)-related case.

The high court, which earlier ordered CBI to probe the alleged attack on the ED officers, expanded the agency’s area of investigation on Wednesday by including the charges of extortion, land grabbing and sexual exploitation-related crimes raised by Sandeshkhali residents. They alleged that the TMC leaders used their land to run saltwater fisheries, making the soil unfit for cultivation.

“The court ordered CBI to launch a dedicated portal and e-mail id to receive complaints from people and said the federal agency can summon any state government officer of any rank to carry out its investigation. In our prayers, we said the offences were not confined to Sandeshkhali. People in adjacent regions were exploited as well,” said lawyer and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Priyanka Tebriwal who is representing the victims.

The high court gave a number of directions to CBI and the state government in Wednesday’s order.

The high court said all state officials must cooperate with the federal agency and security cameras and streetlights must be installed immediately across Sandeshkhali.

Tibrewal told the bench that the complaints included more than 100 affidavits filed by alleged survivors of sexual assault. One of these women said in her affidavit that she was allegedly raped repeatedly for 13 days.

The order was passed around the same time when Union home minister Amit Shah addressed a BJP Lok Sabha campaign rally at Balurghat in north Bengal.

Shah had criticised the TMC government on the Sandeshkhali issue in his speech.

BJP state president and Balurghat MP Sukanta Majumdar welcomed the court order.

“This is a historic order. The extent of atrocity Sandeshkhali residents faced for years will be exposed now. The TMC government had gone going all out to hide it,” Majumdar said.

TMC state vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar said the CBI probe will only delay the process of delivering justice.

“CBI is good at painting political narratives and please its bosses. It is not known for completing investigations on time. The rate of conviction in CBI cases is very poor. Now, people will have to wait for years,” Majumdar said.

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