Trinamool Congress leader Shahjahan Shaikh was arrested after 55  days

Shahjahan Shaikh: The ruling party in West Bengal has been locked in a rift between the ruling party TMC and the opposition BJP over Shahjahan Sheikh, the main accused in the Sandeshkhali case. West Bengal BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday claimed that fugitive TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh of Sandeshkhali has been in the safe custody of the state police since last night. The ruling TMC has dismissed Suvendu’s claim as baseless and deteriorating law and order. The TMC asserted that the police were making all efforts to nab Sheikh.

Sandeshkhali of West Bengal is in the news these days. Local women here have opened a front accusing TMC leaders of sexual harassment and land grabbing. Politics is also going on on this issue. Where the BJP is besieging the Mamta government on this whole issue. At the same time, TMC has accused the BJP of doing politics. In this case, the opposition is constantly besieging Mamta Banerjee’s government. This whole One of the names at the centre of the controversy is ‘Shahjahan Sheikh’.

Trinamool Congress leader Shahjahan Sheikh, the main accused in the Sandeshkhali case, has been arrested. Shahjahan Sheikh was arrested on Thursday. Shaikh, a Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader, was absconding after the attack on a team of Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials. The police arrested him on the orders of the Calcutta High Court. The accused will be produced in court in the afternoon. He is currently kept in the lockup.

From Where Police arrested

Shahjahan Sheikh was hiding in a house at Minakha in  North 24  Parganas district from where he was arrested, police said. After his arrest, he will be produced before a Basirhat court, he said. He is currently under detention and will be produced before the court at 2 pm, a police official said.

Women from Sandeshkhali in the district have accused Shahjahan Sheikh and his supporters of sexual exploitation and grabbing land leases. On the application of the State Advocate General, the High Court ordered the arrest of Shahjahan Sheikh on Monday.

A single bench of Justice T S Sivagnanam in its February 7 order had stayed the formation of a joint Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the West Bengal Police to probe the attack on the ED officials. Later, the court found that Shaikh had been absconding for a long time. The court had directed that the CBI and ED were free to arrest Shaikh.

The arrest has been made by the West Bengal Police following the Calcutta High Court’s decision, which made it clear that there is no stay on the arrest of Trinamool Congress leader Shahjahan Shaikh. In particular, allegations of sexual harassment and violence against women in Sandeshkhali have been simmering for the past month.

Shah Jahan Sheikh is known as ‘Uncrowned Badshah’

It is known that among the local people, Shah Jahan Sheikh is known as ‘Uncrowned Badshah’. Shahjahan is an influential person associated with the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress in Sandeshkhali, a border area in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district. Before the TMC leader hit the headlines after Sandeshkhali’s allegations,   His supporters had attacked ED and CAPF  personnel during an attempt to raid his house in connection with the ration scam.

The fact-finding committee was allowed to go to Sandeshkhali

Earlier, the High Court on Wednesday allowed the fact-finding team, which arrived from Delhi, to go to Sandeshkhali. Last Sunday, the representatives of the committee tried to go to Sandeshkhali. However, the police stopped them midway. The committee had approached the high court. Later, a division bench of Justice Kaushik Chandra of the High Court allowed him to proceed to Sandeshkhali.

BJP holds two-day protest over law and order situation

At the same time, the opposition BJP of the state is constantly attacking the government on this issue. His dharna is continuing against the poor law and order situation in Sandeshkhali and alleged atrocities by TMC leaders. Top leaders of the party’s state unit on Wednesday began a sit-in near the statue of Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi. During this, BJP spokesman Samik Bhattacharya said that law and order in Bengal has completely collapsed.

Shahjahan Sheikh happy in police custody: Suvendu

Nandigram MLA Suvendu Adhikari claimed that Shaikh has been in police custody since midnight. “Shaikh was taken away from Barmajur gram panchayat after a compromise with the police through influential middlemen,” the official said. Shaikh was detained under an agreement of due care during police and judicial remand. “

“Shaikh will be provided facilities at a five-star hotel while he is behind bars and will also be given a mobile phone through which he will be able to contact TMC leaders,” he claimed. Shaikh will also be provided a bed in the Woodburn ward (state-run SSKM Hospital) if he wants to spend some time there, which has been kept ready and kept vacant. “

Sukanta Majumdar said, “Due to continuous agitation of BJP, this government was forced to arrest Shahjahan Sheikh. Already this government was not admitting that something like this had happened (in Sandeshkhali). We had already said that we would compel, and bring the Government to its knees that they are forced to arrest Sheikh Shah Jahan. Today, due to the agitation of the BJP and the movement of the mothers and sisters of Sandeshkhali, the government and Mamata Banerjee have been forced to arrest Sheikh Shah Jahan. “

BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said, “What is TMC boasting about today? It was only when the BJP became the voice of the women of Sandeshkhali and the court repeatedly reprimanded that the Trinamool got Shahjahan Sheikh arrested. It’s just eye-catching, it’s cosmetic. This is proof that he was getting protection from the state. Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee gave a clean chit to Shahjahan Sheikh everywhere from the assembly. Will Priyanka Gandhi and  other leaders of the INDI alliance speak on this issue now?”

Reacting to Shahjahan’s arrest, West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose said: “This is a democracy, we waited but the work that had to be done happened.” This is a lesson for everyone, let’s now hope that a new dawn of law and order will take place in Bengal. I’m glad good things are happening. “

TMC’s counterattack

The official claimed this after TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said in a statement two days ago that Shaikh would be arrested within a week.  TMC leader Santanu Sen termed Adhikari’s claim as baseless. “To stay in the news, officers from time to time make claims that are not only baseless but also an attempt to disturb law and order,” he said. We don’t take his comments seriously. Police are making all efforts to nab Shaikh, just as the other accused Shibprasad Hazra and Uttam Sardar were arrested. “

Mamta government minister Partha Bhowmik says on this matter that it is a dispute of money for land. Many people were not paid for the lease of the land. Because of this, people got angry. The minister has categorically denied allegations like the rape of women. Arrests have also been made by the police in the case. So far 17 people have been arrested.

Shahjahan Sheikh is a local TMC leader. In Sandeshkhali, women have made serious allegations against Shahjahan Sheikh and his close aides Shibu Hazra and Uttam Sardar. The women claim that Shahjahan and his close aides call the women of Sandeshkhali to the office on the pretext of a party meeting and they are wronged. Not only this, TMC leaders are also accused of grabbing people’s land and farming.

Allegations of arrest in false case

The National Commission for Women report, citing media reports, also mentions the alleged collusion of the West Bengal police with Shahjahan Sheikh. Based on interviews with the women, the Women’s Commission said that when women raised their voices against Shahjahan Sheikh and his associates, the Bengal police allegedly harassed their families.

According to the commission,  at the behest of Shahjahan Sheikh, the police allegedly arrested the husbands of the victims in false cases. The TMC administration also threatened to transfer the people doing the job.

In the name of party meetings, women were called at midnight in the night.

Some residents of Sandeshkhali say that these people started calling local women of Sandeshkhali to the party office. Sometimes you have to make some food. Or if there was any work to be done, women were called to the party office. Women have no choice but to refuse because they would have taken over the sheep of their husbands’ lands.

The women did not even have a choice because if they refused, these people would come to their house and beat them. We also heard allegations that many times villagers were killed in front of local people by making them sit. This is just so that fear can remain in the village and in this sequence, the sexual exploitation of girls started. Pretty girls would be identified and called to the party office and asked to “entertain” them. Then the rape begins.

According to the Women’s Commission, allegations are being made that women in Sandeshkhali are so scared that they do not leave their houses after evening. It has been alleged that Shahjahan Sheikh’s men used to call women to the office at midnight in the night in the name of party meetings.

When the Women’s Commission team reached Sandeshkhali, the women started crying after narrating their agony. West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose also met the victims at Sandeshkhali.

If you move forward in the Sundarbans area, you will find many such Shahjahan Sheikhs. It all started in the 90s. That’s when the state government started promoting shrimp farming. This was a boon for the area as the area with an absence of a factory office had seen higher earnings in shrimps. Due to the saltwater here, it was easier to raise shrimp. So the farmers turned to that. But people like Shah Jahan Sheikh were sitting in the middle to cut their share. They started grabbing the land of farmers. Farmers who raised their voices against it were tortured. Women in their houses were tortured. This story of torture went to rape.

Who is Shah Jahan Sheikh?

According to a report, Shah Jahan came to India from Bangladesh years ago and first worked in farms and brick kilns. Not only this, the report quoted locals as saying that Shah Jahan also initially drove boats and passenger cars. In 2002, Shaikh formed a union of brick kiln workers. He became the leader of the union. He later joined the ruling CPI(M). Then there was a Left government in West Bengal. He was helped by his maternal uncle and local CPI(M) leader Muslim Shaikh.

Land grabbing began

After getting the patronage of power, Shah Jahan started showing his true colours. He started taking people’s land on lease and started rearing fish and shrimp by making ponds in them.  He would get his people to fill saline water for farmers who refused to lease the game. This would have damaged the crops of the people and they were forced to lease their cultivation. Initially, for a couple of years, Sheikh farmers would give money to them, but later stopped paying and occupied the land. Gradually, Shah Jahan’s coin started running in Sandeshkhali. Anyone who went to complain to him about the land was beaten up.

Changed sides in 2012, increased clout

This was followed by the Mamata-led TMC government in  West Bengal in 2011. In 2012, Shah Jahan left the Left and joined the TMC. After coming to TMC, his influence increased. It is said that he got the support of some big TMC leaders. According to the report, through these, he started delivering money to the top. Shah Jahan’s close aides Shibu Hazra and Uttam Sardar started extorting money in his name.

But these allegations against Shah Jahan did not stop there. Shahjahan and his men are accused of inviting women on the pretext of a party meeting and sexually exploiting them. Women who refused to come were beaten up and forced to do so.

Shah Jahan Sheikh built a huge wealth

Shahjahan Shaikh had declared his annual income at  Rs 20  lakh during the panchayat elections. According to the report, he has 17 cars, 43 bighas of land, jewellery worth Rs 2 crore and bank balance of Rs 2 crore. But locals say he owns much more property than that.

Talking about the entry fish businessman Shah Jahan Sheikh, started his politics in 2004 with the brick kiln union. The CPI(M) then made him a union leader. After this, he started the work of buying and selling disputed lands and giving money on interest, which increased his influence.

Mama entered politics, came to TMC with the help of Jyotipriya

Shahjahan Sheikh joined the Trinamool holding the hand of former Bengal minister Jyotipriya Mallick. Shah Jahan’s debut in politics, however, took place during the Left Front regime. His maternal uncle Mosalem Shaikh was a CPI(M) strongman and panchayat pradhan in the Sandeshkhali area of North 24 Parganas district. Shah Jahan opened a fish farming centre at the instigation of his maternal uncle. Before that, he used to check the tickets of passengers boarding the trekker running on the Sandeshkhali-Sarberia route. All the fish farming centres in Sandeshkhali were controlled by maternal uncles and nephews.

Came from Bangladesh and became a don

Shah Jahan came to Bengal from Bangladesh and by coming here he built his empire of fear.  Sandeshkhali of North 24 Parganas is connected to the border of Bangladesh, due to which he started living here. Initially, Shah Jahan worked as a labourer on farms and in brick kilns. While working with the brick kiln workers, he formed a union and then socialized in the area and joined the CPI(M).

When did the name first appear?

Shahjahan Sheikh is accused of embezzling Rs 10,000 crore in the West Bengal ration distribution scam.  The ED had first arrested former Bengal minister Jyoti Priya Mallick in this case. Shah Jahan’s name first came to the media when the ED raided his house in connection with the Bengal ration scam. During this, the mob attacked the ED officials. Three officers were injured in this attack and Shahjahan fled. The Bengal Police has arrested 18 people, including Shibu Hazra and Uttam Sardar, on charges of harassment and land grabbing with women.

Conclusion By aAditri Digital

In conclusion, the arrest of Trinamool Congress leader Shahjahan Sheikh, the central figure in the Sandeshkhali case, marks a significant development in the ongoing rift between the ruling TMC and the opposition BJP in West Bengal. The culmination of efforts by law enforcement following the Calcutta High Court’s orders highlights a commitment to upholding justice despite political tensions. The allegations of sexual harassment and land grabbing against Sheikh and his associates have stirred public outrage and brought attention to broader issues of governance and accountability.

The arrest underscores the importance of judicial intervention and the role of independent institutions in addressing allegations of corruption and abuse of power. It also serves as a reminder of the challenges faced by marginalized communities, particularly women, in seeking justice and protection from exploitation.

While the political fallout continues with both parties trading accusations, the arrest signifies a step towards accountability and restoring faith in the rule of law. Authorities must conduct a fair and transparent investigation into the allegations and ensure that perpetrators are held accountable regardless of their political affiliations.

Ultimately, the resolution of the Sandeshkhali case must prioritize the voices and rights of the victims, offering them justice and redress while sending a clear message that impunity will not be tolerated in a democratic society.