NEW DELHI: A day after registering an FIR against five accused in a case linked to land grab and sexual assault on women, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday conducted raids at multiple locations in West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali and recovered foreign-made weapons and a large cache of ammunition, officials in the agency said.
The officials, however, told this newspaper that the raids were conducted as part of the agency’s probe into a case of an attack on an Enforcement Directorate team by a mob allegedly instigated by local TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh.
Giving details of the recoveries during the raids, officials said the CBI team seized three foreign-made revolvers and one foreign-made pistol, one Indian revolver, one Colt official issue police revolver, one country-made pistol, 120 nine mm bullets, 50 cartridges of .45 calibre, 120 nine mm cartridges, 50 cartridges of .380 and eight cartridges of .32.
The ED team was attacked by a mob of around 1,000 people in Sandeshkhali, a riverine delta bordering the Sundarbans, on January 5 when they had gone to raid the premises of Sheikh in connection with an alleged ration scam. One ED official sustained injury in the attack and their vehicle was damaged.
The officials said that the CBI during its probe got inputs of a large cache of arms hidden in Sandeshkhali. “On Friday morning, a CBI team started a search operation during which the arms, including foreign-made pistols, were seized,” a senior official said.
On the orders of the Calcutta High Court, the central agency had registered three FIRs related to the incident of attack on ED officials on January 5. Sheikh was arrested by the West Bengal Police on February 29 in connection with the attack. After the attack, a deputy director of the agency had given a complaint to the superintendent of police, Basirhat.
ED team attacked
The ED team was attacked by a mob of around 1,000 people in Sandeshkhali, a riverine delta bordering the Sundarbans, on January 5 when they had gone to raid the premises of Sheikh in connection with an alleged ration scam, said official.