The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has filed a complaint with Election Commission of India against the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) over Friday’s raid at two premises of an alleged associate of Sandeshkhali accused Shahjahan Sheikh. The Mamata Banerjee-led party has alleged that the central agency’s action was aimed at tarnishing the party’s image amid the ongoing Lok Sabha elections 2024.
The CBI said on Friday that it had recovered arms and ammunition — including foreign-made pistols — while conducting raids at multiple locations in West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali in connection with an attack on an Enforcement Directorate team by a mob allegedly instigated by former TMC leader Sheikh Shahjahan. A team of the National Security Guard (NSG) commandos was also deployed in the area.
“In West Bengal, the electorate was scheduled to vote in three Parliamentary Constituencies, which are, Darjeeling, Raiganj and Balurghat. While elections were going on, the CBI deliberately carried out an unscrupulous raid at an empty location in Sandeshkhali. Media reports suggest that the CBI called in additional forces including the bomb squad of the National Security Guard (NSG). It has also been reported that arms and ammunition have been recovered from a house during such raids,” read the letter by TMC addressed to Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal, with a copy to Chief Election Commissioner, Election Commission of India.
The TMC complaint said that the central agency had not informed local police about the raid on the day of polling in the second phase of general elections. It accused the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the centre of conspiring with CBI and National Security Guard (NSG).
“It is reiterated that in the absence of any representative of the State Government, the purported recovery of arms and ammunition is possibly a ploy employed by the BJP in conspiracy with the CBI and the NSG to plant such weapons at the site,” reads the complaint.
The complaint also alleged that the raid was another testament that the BJP has weaponised the Central investigating agencies, including the CBI to carry out a smear campaign against TMC which would help sway the mindset of the voters in its favour.
Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Calcutta high court decision directing a CBI probe in connection with the allegations of land grabbing and sexual assault in Sandeshkhali. The matter will be heard on April 29 by the Supreme Court’s bench of justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta.
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Published: 27 Apr 2024, 11:17 AM IST