The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted raids at multiple locations in West Bengal's Sandeshkhali in connection with a land-grabbing case against arrested and expelled Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Sheikh Shahjahan.
Sheikh Shahjahan, who has been suspended from the ruling TMC, was arrested in a case related to a mob attack on ED officials at Sandeshkhali on January 5 when the central agency had gone to search his premises in connection with an alleged ration distribution scam.
Former state minister Jyoti Priya Mallick, who held the Food and Supplies portfolio from 2011 to 2021, has been arrested in the alleged ration distribution scam case by the ED.
The Calcutta High Court on March 5 transferred the case to CBI.
Shajahan, along with his aides Shiba Prasad Hazra, Uttam Sardar and others, were also accused of sexual abuse and land grabbing in Sandeshkhali. Hazra and Sardar were arrested too.
The CBI on Wednesday summoned a brother of Sheikh Shahjahan and a few others close to him for questioning in connection with the January 5 mob attack on ED officials, officials said.
A CBI team went to Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district and, with the help of the local police, reached the house of Sheikh Shahjahan's brother Alamgir Sheikh. Officials said that Alamgir was not present at home, and the notice for questioning was served to his family.
The notice was also served to a few other people, considered close to Shajahan who was arrested last month by the state police. The case was later transferred to the CBI by the Calcutta High Court.
A family member of another local panchayat leader, to whom the notice was served, confirmed receiving it.
Officials said the probe agency wants to interrogate several people as part of the investigation.
CBI sleuths, along with forensic and ED officials, on March 8 had also searched the residence of Sheikh Shahjahan in Sandeshkhali in connection with its probe into an attack on an ED team in the area, officials said.
