Trinamool Congress leader Sheikh Shahjahan from Sandeshkhali who has been accused with charges of sexual violence and land grabbing was arrested after being 55 days of hiding.
According to ANI, the SDPO of Minakhan, Aminul Islam Khan confirmed that the West Bengal Police was able to arrest Shahjahan from Minakhan area of North 24 Parganas and has been taken to Basirhat Court.
He will reportedly be produced at the court at 2 pm.
Sheikh has evaded arrest for over 50 days after an Enforcement Directorate team was reportedly attacked by a crowd during a raid on his house.
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Residents of the Sandeshkhali area have been staging violent protests demanding his arrest.
West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar said, "Due to the continuous agitation by the BJP, this government was compelled to arrest Sheikh Shahjahan. The government was in denial mode. They were not even accepting that anything as such had happened. I had already said that we would compel the government to arrest Sheikh Shahjahan. Today, due to the agitation of the BJP and the women of Sandeshkhali, the government and Mamata Banerjee are compelled to arrest Sheikh Shahjahan."
TMC MP Santanu Sen said, "His arrest proves that our government follows 'rajdharma' in an administrative manner. We had taken action against Partha Chatterjee and Jyotipriya Mallick, and similarly, we have taken action against Shibu Hazra and Uttam Sardar and now Sheikh Shahjahan has been arrested. Abhishek Banerjee had said that the Police were unable to arrest him due to the court's stay order. He has been arrested within 3-4 days of the removal of the stay order. On one side, accused leaders openly move in BJP-ruled states and on the other side our administration doesn't spare accused TMC leaders if there is evidence against them. BJP should learn 'rajdharma' from the TMC."
