Kolkata: The Bengal government has refused to hand over custody of Sheikh Shahjahan - the former Trinamool strongman accused of extortion, land grab, and sexual assault in Bengal's Sandeshkhali - to the CBI despite a Calcutta High Court's order on Tuesday to the police's criminal investigation department, or CID.
The court had directed the police to transfer custody of Shahjahan, as well as case materials, by 4.30 pm. At 7.30 pm a CBI team left the police HQ in Kolkata empty-handed. The reason - the state has approached the Supreme Court, and so refused to release Shahjahan till the top court's ruling. The Bengal government had asked for an immediate hearing, but it was turned down. The Supreme Court directed senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for the state, to mention its plea before the Registrar-General, in accordance with the rules.
Earlier on Tuesday the High Court held the state police to be "totally biased" and called for a "fair, honest, and complete investigation" into the allegations against Shahjahan. "There can be no better case than this... which requires to be transferred (and) to be investigated by the CBI," it observed.
A High Court bench led by Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam set aside an earlier order setting up a special investigative team - of CBI and state police officials - and transferred the case to the central agency.
Both the Enforcement Directorate and the state moved separate challenges to that order; the ED wanted the case to be given to the CBI only, while the state wanted the police to handle the probe.
Shahjahan had been on the run since January 5, when a team of Enforcement Directorate officials were attacked by a mob of his supporters while en route to conduct raids. The ED said it had provisionally attached movable and immovable assets worth £1.27 million in connection with the Shahjahan case.
The attack and Shahjahan's disappearance sparked a huge political row; the ruling Trinamool was targeted by the BJP, which accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's party of protecting him.
