USHAGRAM: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said there was "no evidence" of arms seizure in Sandeshkhali, asserting that CBI teams conducted searches without informing the state police.
She expressed scepticism regarding the operations, stating that the recovered items "might have been brought by officials of the central agency".
"If a firecracker goes off in Bengal, the NIA, CBI, NSG are coming to investigate. It seems that a war is going on. The state police were not informed. It is not known what was found. There was no evidence. The seized items might have been brought by them (CBI) in a car," Banerjee said here.
She was addressing an election rally for TMC's Asansol Lok Sabha candidate Shatrughan Sinha.
The CBI on Friday seized arms and ammunition, including a police service revolver and foreign-made firearms, during searches at two premises of an associate of now-suspended TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh in Sandeshkhali, officials said.
The searches were conducted in connection with the January attack on an Enforcement Directorate (ED) team by a mob that was allegedly instigated by Sheikh, who was arrested by the West Bengal Police on February 29 in the case.
Teams of the Central Bureau Investigation (CBI), the bomb detection squad, the National Security Guard (NSG), the central paramilitary forces and the West Bengal Police were part of the searches at Sandeshkhali -- a riverine delta -- on the fringes of the Sunderbans in North 24 Parganas district.
Banerjee also said, "Today, I heard there was an incident near Sandeshkhali. A BJP leader had stored bombs in his house. They think that they can win the elections by cancelling (school) jobs and with bombs. We want 'roti, kapda, makaan' and jobs for the people, not their lofty speeches."
The Trinamool Congress on Saturday alleged that several people were injured after a bomb went off at the house of a relative of a BJP leader in Basirhat assembly constituency.
She was apparently referring to the Calcutta High Court judgment on school jobs.
The court declared the recruitment process of the State Level Selection Test-2016 (SLST) in West Bengal government-sponsored and aided schools as 'null and void', ordering the cancellation of all appointments made through it.