Sheikh Shahjahan remanded to ED custody till April 13

Kolkata: A special PMLA court in Kolkata on Monday remanded suspended Trinamool Congress leader Sheikh Shahjahan to the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) custody till April 13.

Shahjahan was presented before the special PMLA court on Monday, where the ED counsel argued for taking him into custody for interrogation in several cases related to money laundering, including his involvement in the multi-crore ration distribution case in West Bengal.

The ED counsel also told the court that besides being involved in the ration distribution case, the accused virtually ran a land syndicate at Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district where the victims were the common people of the locality.

According to the central agency counsel, farmlands were forcefully converted into pisciculture farms by flowing salt water in them, and the proceeds of crime were invested in the business of exporting prawns and shrimps, which was in the name of Shahjahan’s daughter, Sheikh Sabina.

To recall, the ED took Shahjahan into custody from the Basirhat sub-jail on Saturday.

On Monday, as Shahjahan was being produced at the court, a section of the lawyers practising there staged a demonstration demanding exemplary punishment for him, including death sentence.

Meanwhile, three of the seven individuals who were first arrested by the state police and then handed over to the CBI in connection with the attack on ED and CAPF teams at Sandeshkhali on January 5 gave in-camera statements before the Basirhat sub-divisional court on Monday.

All the seven accused have claimed that the state police are falsely implicating them to shield the actual culprits behind the attack.