ED moves court seeking to be party in Sheikh Shahjahan's anticipatory bail plea case

Kolkata, Feb 17 (IANS) Determined to prevent Sheikh Shahjahan, the mastermind behind the attack on ED and CAPF personnel at Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district on January 5, from securing anticipatory bail, the central agency on Saturday moved a district court seeking to be a party in the case. 

Shahjahan, who is absconding since the day of the attack, moved the district court through his counsel seeking anticipatory bail.

Earlier he moved a special court of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in Kolkata with a similar plea for anticipatory bail, which was rejected through ED, opposed the anticipatory bail plea then also at the special court.

Now the hearing on Shahjahan's plea at the Barasat district court is scheduled on February 26 and before that date of hearing ED has moved the same court seeking to be party in the case.

In his application, ED has claimed that a copy of the notice of application for the anticipatory bail was not served to the central agency and the court should hear their arguments as well before taking a decision on anticipatory bail plea.

ED's move on this count is quite significant especially in the backdrop of the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee recently giving a clean chit to the absconding leader and holding the central agency responsible for the ongoing tension at Sandeshkhali.

The Chief Minister recently said on the floor of the House that ED sleuths went to Sandeshkhali targetting Shahjahan with the intention of creating tension there.

"The RSS has its hub at Sandeshkhali. ED is behind this and is responsible for what is happening at Sandeshkhali now. ED went to Sandeshkhali targetting Shahjahan and with the intention of creating trouble there, " she said on the floor of the House on February 15.

--IANS

src/khz