The clarification was made after the ED and CBI told the Court that they have serious reservations about West Bengal Police probing the allegations against the TMC leader.
The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday clarified that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) are at liberty to arrest absconding Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Sheikh Shahjahan and it is not the West Bengal police alone that can arrest Shahjahan [Court on its own motion vs State of West Bengal].
Shahjahan has recently been in the news after he was accused of sexual assault and land-grabbing activities in Sandeshkhali, besides having close ties to an accused in the ration scam case.
The clarification was made after the ED and CBI told the Court that they have serious reservations about West Bengal Police probing the allegations against the TMC leader.
Advocate General Kishore Datta mentioned the matter before a bench led by Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, seeking some clarifications in earlier order passed on February 26.
During the hearing, Deputy Solicitor General (DSG) Dhiraj Trivedi appeared for the ED and submitted that if the local police is permitted to probe the case, they might destroy the evidence.
“The single-judge, in the order of constituting an SIT to probe attack on ED officers, had clearly asked the local police not to probe the case. We have an apprehension that the local police will dilute the entire case against him,” Trivedi told the judges.
Appearing for the CBI, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, weighed in and submitted that the central agency has serious grievances against the State Police in investigating the case.
“Our apprehension is that if the State Police arrests Shahjahan, they might dilute the case against him. Ultimately, if the probe is transferred to the CBI… Even we want him to be arrested but not by a wrong agency. We have a serious grievance against the State agency. We are saying that the State Police are colluding and once they are colluding they would not let the case reach its logical end,” the ASG submitted.
The ASG made it clear to the Court that the CBI does not want a joint probe with the State Police and would want to proceed independently. He, therefore, urged the bench to hear the submissions on this aspect on February 29. However, the bench said it would hear the case on March 4, as fixed earlier.
The bench, however, proceeded to clarify that both the CBI as well as the ED are free to arrest Shahajahan.
“A person, who is an elected representative of the public and elected to the office to head the Zilla Parishad, cannot be permitted to abscond. He cannot evade law,” Chief Justice Sivagnanam observed.
