Unrest in Sandeshkhali: Shajahan Shiekh faces charges as another local TMC leader is arrested

Ajit Maity, the leader of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), was taken into custody by the West Bengal Police on Monday morning on allegations of stealing land from locals in the volatile Sandeshkhali area of North 24 Parganas district.

Maity, who is said to be linked to TMC strongman Shahjahan Sheikh, was arrested on Sunday night after being pursued by locals and locking himself inside for more than four hours, according to police.

He said that the police had filed a formal report (FIR) against TMC leader and principal accused Shajahan Shiekh, who was absconding, after the receipt of more than seventy complaints.

According to the police officer, the majority of the complainants said that Shajahan was directly responsible for the torture of local women and the forceful seizure of their property. Maity was attacked a few days ago by enraged locals who said he had links to Shajahan and his crew and had sexually assaulted local women in addition to stealing land.

Around 100 kilometers from Kolkata, on the edge of the Sunderbans, the riverine Sandeshkhali locality has been the scene of demonstrations since the first week of February due to claims of sexual abuses and land grabs by TMC officials in the area. Since a mob assault on Enforcement Directorate agents on January 5, when they went to investigate Shahjahan Sheikh’s Sandeshkhali home in connection with a corruption investigation, one of the main suspects has been fleeing the law. Nonetheless, Sheikh’s close allies Shiba Prasad Hajra and Uttam Sardar were taken into custody.

The main developments in the Sandeshkhali problem are listed below.

According to the police, “We have taken Aji Maity into custody following reports from the villagers about land grabbing.” Later today, we’ll present him before the court.After a TMC team visited the unrest-plagued Sandeshkhali for the second day in a row on Sunday and listened to the complaints of the villagers protesting against alleged atrocities by local leaders of the governing party, police detained Ajit Maity.

On Sunday, TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee claimed his party was not defending its leader Shajahan Sheikh, who was abducted and is believed to have been the victim of “sexual abuse and land grab” by Sandeshkhali villagers. Meanwhile, police prevented a probe panel from going to the area to look into allegations of crimes against women.

After police stopped an independent fact-finding panel headed by former Patna High Court Chief Justice L Narasimha Reddy, citing Section 144 CrPC, a TMC delegation visited the area for the second day in a row and heard the complaints of villagers protesting alleged atrocities by local leaders of the ruling party.

According to an officer, ISF leader Ayesha Bibi was detained on Sunday in Sandeshkhali for her claimed role in setting local TMC politician Shibaprasad Hazra’s poultry farms on fire.