Trinamool Congress leader and former chairperson of Bongaon municipality, Shankar Adhya was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday as part of a probe into the ration distribution scam. Adhya’s home in the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal was the focus of raids that began on Friday morning, and authorities reported that they had so far retrieved Rs 8 lakhs from him. Additionally, ED conducted a raid on Adhya’s father-in-law’s home. Once more, a mob attacked the ED officials as they apprehended the TMC leader. Before agency officials could escort Adhya out of the area, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) unit stationed there had to intervene and use a lathi charge. State food minister Jyotipriyo Mallick has already been taken into custody in relation to the multi-crore ration distribution fraud. Here’s all we know about the massive attack on ED in Bengal. A major attack on ED in West Bengal Adhya’s arrest comes a day after the ED raided over 15 locations in the state in relation to the ration distribution scam. However, during an ED raid on block-level TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh’s property in the North 24 Parganas area, the ED and accompanying journalists were attacked by about 800-1,000 people, as per News18. Sheikh is regarded as Jyotipriyo Mallick’s close aide. When ED officials and central force troops arrived at Sheikh’s home in the Sandeshkhali region early in the morning, a significant number of TMC supporters first gheraoed them and staged a demonstration. Later, they attacked the authorities and made them leave the area, according to an officer.
ED was conducting searches on the three premises of Sahajahan Sheikh, Convenor of TMC, North 24 Parganas in case of PDS scam of West Bengal. During the searches. On one of the premises, ED team with CRPF personnels was attacked by 800-1000 people with an intention to cause death…
— ED (@dir_ed) January 5, 2024
In its first reaction to the attack, the ED said the team was “attacked by 800-1,000 people with an intention to cause death.” The attack left three ED officers with serious injuries. The agency claims that the attackers also stole personal items from its employees, such as laptops, wallets, and cell phones. According to NDTV which cited the agency, the mob assembled in less than 30 minutes after Sheikh refused to unlock the door, despite the team’s best efforts to do so. There were also reports of stones being hurled at the staff. “Other officers had to escape from the place of the incident without conducting search to save their lives as the mob became very violent and even chased the officials so as to deter the officials from performing their official duty,” it added. ED officers were forced to leave Sandeskhali in auto-rickshaws and two-wheelers after leaving their damaged cars there. Two sets of reports to be prepared Two sets of reports about the mob’s attacks on ED authorities during a raid are currently being prepared. The reports, according to the officials, would be submitted to their New Delhi office by Saturday, when their superiors will choose the next step. “We are preparing two sets of reports on Friday’s attack on our team during the raid at Trinamool Congress leader Sahajahan Sheikh’s residence at Sandeskhali in North 24 Parganas. We will include every detail of the attack, how we were forced to abandon the assignment and flee from the place, and the damage to our vehicles. We will also include photographs and video grabs of the attack,” the official told PTI. Adhya’s family claims he is “being framed” Jyosna, Adhya’s wife, claims her husband is being framed and has been arrested despite cooperating with authorities. “Yesterday they came in the morning; we cooperated with them, but at 12.30 night, they told us that they would arrest him because of Jyotipriyo Mallick. He has been framed, and these are false things,” she said, according to News18. In the 12 hours of the raid at Adhya’s in-laws’ residence and two close aides, the officials collected a few documents and bank details and also spoke to the locals. Up to 10 pm on Friday, search operations were carried out at two other locations, including an ice cream factory owned by a close aide of the TMC leader in Bongaon. “We faced a lot of non-cooperation from the local residents. That is the reason it took so much time for us to complete the search operations,” an ED official said. Political row The conflict widened rifts within the Opposition alliance and set off a centre-versus-state spat. Governor CV Ananda Bose also strongly condemned the attack, stating that the state is not a “banana republic.” He also said, “It is a ghastly incident. It is alarming and deplorable. It is the duty of a civilised government to stop barbarism and vandalism in a democracy. If a government fails in its basic duty, then the Constitution of India will take its course.” While TMC said that “unruly elements attached with the central agencies provoked locals” and referred to the incident as “a BJP conspiracy,” the BJP slammed the Mamata Banerjee-led government as “a threat to national security” and accused it of fostering “lawlessness in Bengal.” Reacting sharply to the incident, BJP co-incharge in the state Amit Malviya wrote on X, “This is how lawless Bengal is,” adding, “Continuance of the TMC government in West Bengal is a national security threat.” He further said, “Shahjahan Sheikh, in particular, is close to Abhishek Banerjee, nephew of CM Mamata Banerjee, who is also the Home Minister of Bengal. It is likely that several of those who came out to attack the probe agency officials are illegal migrants, who have been patronised by the local TMC leaders, to serve as their vote bank.”
Yesterday, Mamata Banerjee’s spokespersons came out in full force to defend Shahjahan Sheikh, the criminal, who ordered attack on ED officials and media in Sandeshkhali.
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) January 6, 2024
In a public speech on 1st Jan 2024, Shahjahan claimed that CBI and ED wouldn’t be able to even touch his… pic.twitter.com/wARh0GDy3O
Malviya also criticised TMC for endorsing Sheikh, who was purportedly quoted as saying in a recent address that “CBI and ED wouldn’t be able to touch his hair.” BJP leader of Opposition Suvendhu Adhikari called the incident “horrific,” and added, “The Law and Order Situation in West Bengal is in shambles.”
Horrific. The Law & Order Situation in West Bengal is in shambles.
— Suvendu Adhikari (@SuvenduWB) January 5, 2024
ED Officials & CRPF Jawans brutally attacked in Sandeshkhali; North 24 Parganas district, while conducting Raid at TMC leader Sheikh Shahjahan's house.
I doubt that Rohingyas are present amongst the Anti National… pic.twitter.com/XHboQsBVSX
The BJP leader posted the speech video with the caption, “Sheikh Shahjahan has all the trappings of Anubroto Mondal, Mamata Banerjee’s pet henchman, who is now in jail… Shahjahan will meet the same fate, and soon.” “In a public speech on 1st Jan 2024, Shahjahan claimed that CBI and ED wouldn’t be able to even touch his ‘hair’… He also asked everyone to pray so that he doesn’t get angry or else he will break teeth of BJP workers and leaders, execute them after 2024 (since TMC controls Govt in Bengal) and rip skin off their bodies,’ he added. On the other hand, TMC leader Shashi Panja, according to NDTV, speaking of the incident, said, “We have heard that the locals of the area were provoked and, consequently, they retaliated. We have repeatedly said that we do not support any violence. We have no issues with any investigation but some people are deliberately trying to create a ’law and disorder’. They are deliberately trying to frame a situation to defame Bengal.” According to TMC’s Santanu Sen, the central agency’s officials “provoked” the locals, causing them to respond in sort. He said, “The officers of the Central investigation agency surrounded by the Central forces provoked the local people. That’s why there were counter-reactions continuously.”
Santanu Sen #TMC Rajyosabha MP says that officers of Central agency provoked people which resulted incident in #Sandeshkhali . Also he raised question as why no raids in #SuvendhuAdhikary residence @SantanuSenMP @CNNnews18 pic.twitter.com/0DmcNvLieM
— Kamalika Sengupta (@KamalikaSengupt) January 5, 2024
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThe nation’s citizens, according to Sen, are “frustrated” with the central agencies’ operations, which are “monitored from Delhi.” “The real fact is the people of India are frustrated watching this deep-rooted conspiracy engineered and monitored from Delhi daily and that too in the case of TMC in West Bengal…On the contrary, the person who’s posting all this on social media is topping the list of corruption. He was found taking money before the camera. His other family members are accused of corruption but no action was taken against them because they belong to BJP,” he added. With inputs from agencies