New Delhi: A sub-divisional court at Basirhat on Tuesday remanded three alleged associates of the now suspended TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh to ten days CBI custody following their arrest by the central agency in connection with the January 5 attack on an Enforcement Directorate (ED) team.
The CBI, which summoned them to its office in Kolkata on Monday, had arrested them after questioning. The additional chief judicial magistrate of Basirhat sub-divisional court, Indranil Karmakar, remanded the three - Didar Baksh Molla, Jiauddin Molla and Faruk Akunji to CBI custody for 10 days.
The central agency presented the three individuals before the court On Tuesday and requested their custody for further questioning. Among them, Didar Baksh Molla, employed as a security guard at Sheikh's residence in Sandeshkhali, is notably the complainant in the initial FIR filed by the West Bengal Police following the attacks. Jiauddin Molla holds the position of pradhan in the Sarberia Agarhati village panchayat, reported news agency PTI.
All three individuals are purportedly close associates of Sheikh, who is believed to be the orchestrator of the mob attack. According to officials, the CBI had summoned a total of nine aides and associates of Sheikh for interrogation in connection with the case on Monday.
The central agency suspects that the nine individuals summoned were allegedly involved in the attack on ED officials on January 5 and may have incited the crowd to target the team.
Shajahan Sheikh Will Remain In CBI Custody Until March 14
Shajahan Sheikh, whose role in the attack is currently under investigation, will remain in CBI custody until March 14. Following an order from the Calcutta High Court, the CBI has assumed control of the investigation into the incidents of January 5. On that day, approximately 1000 individuals attacked the ED officials when they attempted to search Sheikh's premises at Sandeshkhali in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district in connection with the agency's probe into an alleged ration distribution scam case.
Former state minister Jyoti Priya Mallick, who served as the Food and Supplies portfolio holder from 2011 to 2021, has been apprehended by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the purported ration distribution scam case. This development comes amid ongoing investigations into alleged irregularities surrounding the distribution of rations, as per PTI.
Meanwhile, Shajahan Sheikh, a key figure in the case, was detained by the state police on February 29, following a high court directive permitting the CBI, ED, or the West Bengal police to effect his arrest.