TMC claims ammunition seized by CBI in Sandeshkhali could have been planted

Reacting to the cache of ammunition seized by CBI from West Bengal's Sandeshkhali, the ruling Trinamool Congress raised suspicions that the bombs could have been planted by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or National Security Guard (NSG) commandos.The allegationfollows closely on the heels of a CBI raid on locations tied to individuals suspected in the January 5 assault on an Enforcement Directorate team in which several officials were injured in Sandeshkhali when they set out to raid TMC leader Shah Jahan Sheikh's residence.

The party in a letter to the Election Commission of India on Friday (Apr 26) evening wrote, "It is astonishing to notice that media personnel were already present during such the raid even before the state administration arrived at the spot."

"At such point in time, it was already nationwide news that weapons had been recovered during the raid. 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," the letter further read.

With the Lok Sabha elections going on, TMCraised a complaint with the ECI alleging that the CBI is trying to thwart the campaign of the opposition parties with the help of other central agencies.

After the Calcutta High Court instructed the CBI to investigate accusations of extortion and sexual assault in Sandeshkhali involving Sheikh Shahjahan, who after evading law enforcement for almost two months got arrested in March, the Bengal government has taken the matter to the Supreme Court.

Lamenting further, TMC to the poll body wrote, "Your office has turned a blind eye while Central probe agencies continue to wreak havoc across the nation, especially during the election period."

"The BJP compromised the sanctity of the ensuing elections by spreading a sense of terror amongst the electorate, thereby attempting to gain an undue advantage..." it further added.

Among the weapons seized by CBI were three foreign-made revolvers, one Indian revolver, one colt official police revolver, one foreign-made pistol, one country made pistol, nine mm bullets- 120 nos,.45 calibre cartridges – 50 nos, 9 mm calibre cartridges-120 nos,.380 cartridges -50 nos, and.32 cartridges- 08 nos.