Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday questioned arrested Trinamool Congress (TMC) strongman Sheikh Shahjahan in the Basirhat correctional home in North 24 Parganas in connection with the alleged multi-crore ration distribution scam in West Bengal, officials said.
The federal agency had moved the Basirhat sub-divisional court earlier during the day seeking permission to question Shahjahan, and the permission was granted.
“An ED team reached the correctional home to question Shahjahan. The court gave permission,” said an official.
The central investigating agency probing the ration distribution scam suspects that Shahjahan invested proceeds of the crime in illegal fish farms in Sandeshkhali. Hundreds of acres of farmlands were forcefully grabbed and turned into fish farms, according to the ED.
In October 2023, the ED arrested former state food minister Jyoti Priya Mallick in connection with the ration scam. He is now in jail.
On January 5, ED officials were attacked when they went to search Shahjahan’s house in Sandeshkhali. The TMC leader was on the run for 55 days. Shahjahan is known to be a close aide of Mallick.
Sandeshkhali, a village in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas was on the boil since February 7 after the village women hit the streets demanding the arrest of Shahjahan and his aides over allegations of land grabbing and sexual assault. Earlier, his close associates, Shibaprasad Hazra and Uttam Sardar, were arrested by the Bengal Police.
“Multiple complaints have been registered against Shahjahan that and his aides such as Shibaprasad Hazra and Uttam Sardar grabbed large swathes of farmlands in the villages and turned them into fish farms. Saline water fishes and prawns were bred in the farms,” said a senior police officer from Basirhat.
Shajahan, who was on the run for nearly two months, was arrested on February 29 after the Calcutta high court paved the way for the arrest of Shahjahan by the state police in connection with the attack on ED officials. He was later handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation on the orders of the Calcutta high court.
Following his arrest, he was suspended from the TMC and is presently lodged in Basirhat jail.
The district administration has already returned the farmlands to the villagers. According to officials, around 250 villagers have already got back their lands.
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