'No evidence of arms seizure': Mamata Banerjee slams CBI raids in Sandeshkhali as TMC files complaints with EC

There is no evidence of arms seizure in Sandeshkhali and the weapons claimed to have recovered could have been planted by central agencies, said West Bengal Chief and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee.

Mamata’s comment comes a day after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said it had seized arms and ammunition during raids in Sandeshkhali village in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district. The raids were in connection to an attack on Enforcement Directorate (ED) personnel in January in the village by a mob allegedly instigated by now-suspended TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh.

Separately, the TMC has filed a complaint with the Election Commission of India (ECI) that alleges that “unscrupulous raids at empty locations” were carried out by the CBI on the day of voting to “tarnish the image” of the TMC, according to India Today.

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Voting was being held at Darjeeling, Raiganj, and Balurghat constituencies of Lok Sabha as part of the second phase of the 2024 general elections on Friday as the CBI raided the sites in Sandeshkhali. A bomb squad of the National Security Guards (NSG) and other central paramilitary personnel were also part of the operation.

Watch: After foreign weapons were discovered in CBI's raid, NSG teams are now conducting search operations in West Bengal's Sandeshkhali. A close aide of Shahjahan Sheikh is also under NSG scrutiny. https://t.co/7rauuI1dMP pic.twitter.com/e5CxnAsfK5

— IANS (@ians_india) April 26, 2024

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‘Weapons could have been planted, it seems a war is going on’: Mamata

Mamata on Saturday said that the weapons said to have been recovered in Sandeshkhali could have been planted by the central investigative agency involved in the raid.

Speaking at a rally in support for TMC’s Shatrughan Sinha, Mamata further said that it “seems a war is going on” and slammed the attention of central agencies on her state, according to PTI.

Mamata said that there was “no evidence” of arms seizure in Sandeshkhali and that the weapons said to have been recovered “might have been brought by officials of the central agency”, as per the news agency.

“If a firecracker goes off in Bengal, the NIA, CBI, NSG are coming to investigate. It seems that a war is going on. The state police were not informed. It is not known what was found. There was no evidence. The seized items might have been brought by them (CBI) in a car,” Mamata was further quoted as saying.

During the Friday’s raids, the CBI said it seized a police service revolver and foreign-made firearms.

TMC lodges complaint against CBI, NSG raids with ECI

While Mamata dismissed the CBI’s claims in the election rally, her party TMC filed complaints with the Election Commission and alleged that the raids were an attempt to tarnish the image of the party.

In its complaint, the TMC also repeated Mamata’s assertion of lack of evidence of the recovery of weapons.

“There is no way of knowing with certainty, as to whether these weapons were indeed recovered during the search and seizure procedure or whether they were surreptitiously planted by the CBI/NSG,” said the complaint, as per India Today.

The complaint further said that the state police was not informed of the raids even though law and order is a state subject. The TMC also said that, if the CBI felt a bomb squad was required, it could have sought the squad of the state police instead of calling in NSG, the premier anti-terrorism force of the central government.

“In this regard, it is stated that though ’law and order’ is a domain falling completely within the ambit of the State Government, the CBI did not issue an actionable notice to the State Government and/or the police authorities before carrying out such a raid. Further, the State Police has a fully functional bomb disposal squad which could have assisted the entire operation, if the CBI indeed felt that a bomb squad was required during such a raid,” said the TMC in its complaint, as per the report.