CBI seizes foreign pistols, small arms during Sandeshkhali raids
NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday recovered several arms and ammunition during raids at two locations in Sandeshkhali in West Bengal in connection with its probe into the attack on an Enforcement Directorate (ED) team earlier this year by a mob allegedly instigated by suspended Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Shahjahan Sheikh, people familiar with the development said.
The raids were carried out by five teams of CBI sleuths, with support from the state police and the central forces, in Sandheshkhali in North 24 Parganas district, officers aware of the details said, adding they had received information about stockpiling of huge cache of arms and ammunition by some suspects.
“We have recovered 12 firearms, including foreign-made pistols, during the searches. Besides, explosives stacked inside boxes, have also been found,” an officer said, requesting anonymity.
The National Security Guard (NSG) was also called in during the raids to detect if any explosive items needed to be defused.
On January 5, an ED team was attacked in Sandeshkhali when it had gone to raid the premises of now-suspended TMC strongman Shahjahan Sheikh in connection with an alleged ration scam. At least three ED officials were injured in the attack, allegedly by around 1,000 people, which is being probed by CBI on the orders of Calcutta high court.
“During investigation of this case, information was received that the items lost by the ED team and other incriminating articles may be hidden at the residence of an associate of Shahjahan at Sandeshkhali,” a CBI spokesperson said in a statement. “Accordingly, the team of CBI along with Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel searched two premises at Sandeshkhali”.
During the searches, the spokesperson said, several weapons including three foreign-made revolvers, one Indian revolver, one Colt official police revolver, one foreign-made pistol, one country-made pistol, 120 bullets of 9mm, 50 cartridges of .45 calibre, 120 cartridges of 9mm etc.
“Besides, many incriminating documents related to Shahjahan have also been recovered. Some items suspected to be country made bombs have also been recovered which are being handled and disposed of by the teams from NSG,” the spokesperson said. Searches are still continuing, the spokesperson added.
Reacting to the development, the ruling TMC’S state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said: “We don’t know what has been recovered or not. Whatever the CBI is saying, we doubt it. The matter should be probed properly. The BJP is using central agencies to malign us. It can be a sinister ploy by the BJP to malign us during elections. It can be a well-designed campaign by the BJP.”
The BJP soon hit back, with senior leader Amit Malviya posting on X: “The CBI, during the raid, in connection with the attack on ED officials, recovered a huge amount of arms and ammunition from Sariberia, in Sandeshkhali. Mamata Banerjee, as Home Minister of West Bengal, must explain why the state is seeing a huge stockpile of illegal weapons.”
Shahjahan, who was on the run after the attack on the ED team, was arrested 55 days later on February 29 by the state police. He was later handed over to CBI.
Shahjahan, a local zilla parishad member, and his aides are also accused of sexually assaulting several women in Sandeshkhali and land grabbing.
ED claimed that Shahjahan had links with arrested Bengal’s food minister Jyoti Priya Mallick, under investigation in the multi-crore ration distribution scam. The federal agency claimed that in ration distribution scam, proceeds of crime amounted to ₹9,000-₹10,000 crore, of which ₹2,000 crore was suspected to be transferred to Dubai either directly or through Bangladesh.
ED’S probe is based on various FIRS filed by West Bengal Police, wherein private persons were found in unauthorised possession of ration meant for delivery through PDS and also found to be involved in bogus procurement of paddy.
On the high court’s order, CBI is also investigating the incidents of sexual assault with several women and incidents of land grabbing by Shahjahan and his associates