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Mamata Banerjee to visit Sandeshkhali on Dec 30, her first visit since protests
Sandeshkhali witnessed tensions after an Enforcement Directorate team, which went to raid Shahjahan Sheikh’s house in connection with a money-laundering case, was attacked by a mob on January 5 this year
Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said that she would travel to Sandeshkhali on December 30, her first visit to the island in North 24 Parganas following protests related to allegations of land grabbing and sexual assault involving Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Shahjahan Sheikh.
“I will be going to Sandeshkhali on December 30 to attend a public distribution program. Many people had asked me ahead of the Lok Sabha polls when I would visit Sandeshkhali. I had told them that I would go there,” she said to reporters at the .
Sandeshkhali, comprising 16 village panchayat areas in North 24 Parganas district, witnessed tensions for weeks after an Enforcement Directorate team, which went to raid Shahjahan Sheikh’s house in connection with a money-laundering case, was attacked by a mob on January 5 this year.
Villagers led by local women, who alleged sexual assault by him and his associates , and others held protests.
Shahjahan was arrested in February, following which the Calcutta High Court transferred the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Also Read: CBI creates dedicated e-mail id for land grab victims in Bengal’s Sandeshkhali
During an election rally in Basirhat in May, Banerjee had promised to visit Sandeshkhali after the election results were declared.
“After Haji Nurul Islam (TMC’s candidate from Basirhat) wins the Lok Sabha polls, I will visit Sandeshkhali within a few days to meet the people,” she said at the rally in Basirhat.
Amid allegations and counter-allegations between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and TMC over the Sandeshkhali issue, the TMC replaced actor-turned-MP Nusrat Jahan, the sitting MP of Basirhat, with veteran politician Sk Nurul Islam as its candidate.
Islam won the election with a margin of 3,33,547 votes.
