Latest In Sandeshkhali Row: Calcutta High Court Asks West Bengal Police To Hand Over TMC Leader Shahjahan Sheikh To CBI

The Calcutta High Court has asked the West Bengal Police to hand over the custody of accused Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Shahjahan Sheikh in various cases of Sandeshkhali to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam issued an order on Tuesday (5 March) that the state police should hand over Sheikh and all relevant case materials to the CBI by 4.30 pm as part of the transfer, NDTV reported.

This comes a few days after Sheikh was sent to police custody for 10 days by a local court of Basirhat last Thursday. He was arrested earlier that day by West Bengal Police.

He was reported to have been picked up by the police from the North 24 Parganas district, where Sandeshkhali is located, post-midnight and kept in Basirhat court’s lock-up until the hearing on the matter.

While Sheikh is the fourth TMC leader to be arrested after protesting women alleged land grab and sexual assault, West Bengal Police said that Sheikh was arrested in another case of ED officers' assault.

He was on the run since 5 January 2024 when Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers were assaulted during a raid they were conducting on Sheikh in a ration distribution scam case.