The West Bengal government told the Supreme Court that the transfer of investigation in the Sandeshkhali case to the CBI in a “cursory manner” violates the law laid down by the apex court.
In its plea, accessed by CNN-News18, the state government said the Calcutta High Court’s order to hand over papers and former TMC leader Sheikh Shahjahan to the CBI by 4:30 pm on Tuesday violates the state’s right to judicial review of the ruling.
The government also said that the ruling cast “unsubstantiated aspersions” on the state’s investigating agency by directing the transfer of the probe to the CBI.
The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday transferred the probe into the January 5 attack on financial probe agency Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials in West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali by a mob of jailed and suspended Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Shahjahan Sheikh’s supporters to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The court also said Shahjahan Sheikh’s custody will be handed over to CBI. A division bench presided by Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam directed the Bengal Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to hand the jailed politician to the CBI by today (Tuesday) evening and share all documents related to the case.
However, the West Bengal Police’s CID on Tuesday refused to hand over Shahjahan Sheikh to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), saying that the matter is pending before the Supreme Court.
The Central agency officers had to wait for over 2 hours at the CID office for the transfer of documents. However, the West Bengal government denied the request.
Shahjahan Sheikh, the prime accused in the Sandeshkhali violence case, was arrested by Bengal police a day after the high court ordered that Sheikh can be arrested by the CBI, the ED or the police.
With inputs from News18