Kolkata, Feb 17 (IANS) Shibu Hazra, a local Trinamool Congress leader and prime accused in the alleged sexual harassment of women at Sandeshkhali in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district, has been arrested by the state police on Saturday evening. His arrest from a hideout at Sandeshkhali, as told by the police, came just hours after the cops registered cases under rape and attempt to murder charges against Hazra and another key accused, Uttam Sardar.
Hazra, who had been absconding for the past one week after the local women protesting at Sandeshkhali burnt down his farmhouse and poultry farm, will be produced before a district court on Sunday. Meanwhile, the political mentor of the duo and the mastermind behind the attack on ED and CAPF personnel at Sandeshkhali on January 5, Sheikh Shahjahan, is still absconding ever since the day of the attack.
Acting DGP of West Bengal Police, Rajeev Kumar, said on Saturday that when the state police launched the probe into the matter, the ED went to the court following which a stay was put on the investigation process. The investigation order by a joint special investigation team (SIT) of the state police and CBI was passed by the Calcutta High Court’s single-judge bench of Justice Jay Sengupta. However, the ED approached the division bench of the high court’s Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya against the single bench order and demanded an independent CBI probe into the matter, instead of the joint SIT investigation. The division bench put an interim stay on the investigation by the joint SIT until the next hearing scheduled in March.
The arrest of the prime accused and the legal battle over the investigation process have brought attention to the alleged sexual harassment case at Sandeshkhali in West Bengal, and it remains to be seen how the case unfolds in the coming days.
The local community and the authorities will be closely watching the developments in the case as they seek justice for the victims and uphold the rule of law in the state.
– IANS
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