ED Officers Searching Trinamool Leader's Residence Brutally Attacked: Centre Must Read Riot Act To Mamata Banerjee

Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers who had gone to search the residence of Trinamool leader Shahjahan Sheikh, an accused in the ration scam, at Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas late Friday morning, were attacked, allegedly by Trinamool goons.

Sheikh, who is accused of many crimes including cross-border smuggling, is a Trinamool strongman and was close to minister Jyotipriya Mallick who had been arrested for his involvement in the scam in October last year. 

When an ED team, escorted by armed CRPF men, reached Sandeshkhali, a large group of men and women started shouting slogans against them. 

Undeterred, the ED team reached Sheikh’s house and found it locked from inside. When the team tried to break open the door to Sheikh’s palatial house, the mob attacked them and chased them away. 

Two ED officers sustained grievous injuries. According to unconfirmed reports, some men in the mob jostled with the CRPF men and tried to snatch their arms.

The ED officers and CRPF men had to escape in auto-rickshaws and two-wheelers, leaving their vehicles behind. The mob then vandalised the vehicles (watch the video embedded in this post on X). 

Senior state police officials did not respond to calls from the ED for help. The Superintendent of Police of North 24 Parganas reportedly refused to take calls from the besieged ED officials. 

Journalists who had accompanied the ED team to report on the raids were also attacked and assaulted, and equipment of TV camera crews were damaged by the mob.

The BJP condemned the attack on ED officers and CRPF men and demanded imposition of President’s Rule in Bengal. 

Governor C V Ananda Bose termed the attack alarming and deplorable and warned the state government that it will have to face the consequences if it fails to act against those who attacked the ED team. 

“It is the bounden duty of a civilised government to stop barbarism and vandalism in a democracy. If the government fails in its basic duty, the Constitution of India will definitely take its course. As Governor, I reserve all my Constitutional options for appropriate action at the appropriate moment,” Bose said. 

Asserting that “Bengal is not a banana republic”, the Governor warned that “this pre-election violence which has an early beginning should find an early end”. 

The Trinamool put up a weak defence and fielded state industry minister Sashi Panja to defend the state government. Panja justified the attack by stating that the CRPF personnel who had accompanied the ED team had “provoked” the villagers. 

BJP spokesperson and head of its IT cell Amit Malviya, in this post on X, alleged that Shahjahan Sheikh is close to Abhishek Banerjee. 

Suvendu Adhikari identified the three men who led the mob that assaulted the ED and CRPF team: two of them are Alamgir’s brothers and another is a Trinamool functionary. 

Calcutta High Court Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who had passed orders asking central agencies to probe various scams in Bengal, asked how the ED will probe scams if ED officers are assaulted. He also wondered why the Governor is not declaring that the Constitutional machinery has collapsed in Bengal. 

Justice Gangopadhyay has raised a valid point. Such attacks on officers of central agencies to prevent them from raiding houses of leaders of the ruling party accused in scams and the apathy of the state police in preventing such attacks is a serious matter. 

This is not the first time that the Trinamool Congress, and also the state government, has prevented central agencies from doing their duties. 

The state government, and chief minister Mamata Banerjee herself, face serious charges of infractions of the law and the Constitution.

Friday’s incident should make the Union Government realise that the ‘jungle raaj’ in Bengal has to end. Governor Ananda Bose rightly said that Bengal is not a banana republic. It is now for the Union Government to read the riot act, very loudly and unequivocally, to Mamata Banerjee. 

And issue a dire warning that any further violation of the law and Constitutional norms will invite severe consequences. Banerjee has to know that she is walking the tightrope now; any misstep will cost her and her party dear.