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MHA seeks report from Bengal on attack on ED team raiding TMC leader’s house
The home ministry has taken cognisance of the incident and has asked the state authorities to explain the circumstances leading to the attack
New Delhi: The ministry of home affairs (MHA) has sought a detailed report from the West Bengal government in connection with the attack on an Enforcement Directorate (ED) last week by a mob when it went to raid the house of a Trinamool Congress leader.
People familiar with the development said the Union ministry has taken cognisance of the incident and has asked the state authorities to explain the circumstances leading to the attack on the federal agency’s officers and action taken thereafter against the accused persons.
Three ED officials were injured, and their mobile phones, laptops and wallets allegedly “looted” when they went to Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district to search the premises of Shajahan Sheikh, a leader of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the state, on January 5. The raid was carried out on Sheikh as he is said to have links with arrested state food minister Jyoti Priya Mallick, under investigation in the multi-crore ration distribution scam in West Bengal. Central force personnel accompanying the ED team were also attacked. The three ED officers had to be hospitalised.
Sheikh is absconding and the ED has issued a look-out circular (LC) against him, alerting all land, air and sea ports to stop his exit from the country.
A second agency team was attacked, and their vehicle damaged during the arrest of another TMC leader, Shankar Adhya, in Bongaon of the same district the same day.
Also Read: ED team attacked in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas: Officials
On Tuesday, ED’s interim director, Rahul Navin, visited West Bengal to take stock of the situation following the attacks on the agency officials.
Navin reviewed the probe into the alleged public distribution and paddy procurement scam in West Bengal and discussed security concerns of the local ED establishment in the backdrop of the attacks on the agency officials, people familiar with the visit said.
An official who didn’t want to be named said the ED teams’ security might be enhanced during sensitive raids in the wake of Bengal incident.
The ED claimed in a press statement on Monday that the magnitude of the scam was enormous and the proceeds of the crime transferred by a suspect amounted to ₹9,000-10,000 crore, of which an amount of ₹2,000 crore was suspected to be transferred to Dubai either directly or through Bangladesh.
ED has also filed a complaint with the police but it has claimed the cops have diluted the case by not including Indian Penal Code sections of attempt to murder, voluntarily causing grievous hurt to deter public servant and dacoity were dropped from the first information. The federal agency has also not been given a copy of the FIR.
