Sandeshkhali violence: Supreme Court rejects West Bengal govt’s plea against HC order for CBI probe

The Supreme Court of India on Monday (Mar 11) dismissed the West Bengal government's plea challenging a Calcutta High Court order in a matter relating to the attack on the Enforcement Directorate (ED) team in the Sandeshkhali region in the east Indian state of West Bengal.

The plea for an order to transfer the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for an investigation into the January 5 attack on ED officials in Sandeshkhali village which is in the North 24 Parganas district.

The Calcutta HC had also asked for the custody of the accused Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Shahjahan Sheikh to be granted to the central agency. He was arrested by the West Bengal police on February 29 in connection with the attack.

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A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta, however, ordered expunging certain remarks and observations made against the state government and the police in the March 5 order of the high court.

The bench noted the submission of Additional Solicitor General SV Raju that he has no objection to the expunction of the remarks if the final order transferring the probe to CBI remains as it is.

The bench posed several questions during the hearing to senior advocate Jaideep Gupta, who is representing the West Bengal police, as to why the suspended Sheikh was not promptly arrested and why was there a delay in the investigation of the case.

The West Bengal government on March 6 had approached the top court seeking urgent listing of its petition challenging the high court order, but failed to elicit prompt relief.

The state government, in its plea before the apex court, had dubbed the Calcutta high court order as perverse, illegal, and arbitrary which deserves to be set aside.

"It is most respectfully submitted that the Impugned Order was pronounced by the Division Bench at 3 pm and uploaded on the High Court website by 3.30 pm (approx.), but the directions contained therein required the Petitioner/State Govt. To comply with such directions by 4.30 pm on the self same day i.e. March 5, 2024 which effectively frustrated the Petitioner's right to avail its remedy under Article 136 of the Constitution."

"In fact, the Advocate General appearing for the Petitioner State orally prayed seeking stay on the operation of the Impugned Order for three days to avail such legal remedy but the Division Bench not only rejected such prayer but refused to record the same in the Impugned Order," the state government said.

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CBI summons close aides of Shahjahan Sheikh

The CBI has summoned nine close aides and associates of suspended TMC leader to appear before the agency on Monday, officials said. The investigating agency suspects that these nine individuals were allegedly part of the attack on ED officials.

They also allegedly instigated the crowd to target the team when they went to raid the premises of Sheikh.

(With inputs from agencies)