The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday ordered a CBI probe into alleged crimes against women, forcible land-grab in West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali. The court said it will monitor the investigation, and directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to file report on illegal conversion of agricultural land for pisciculture.
The investigating agency has also come up with a portal where people can register their voices. All witnesses will be given protection, sources said.
Sandeshkhali, a riverine island around 80 kilometres from Kolkata, has been in the news after local women alleged land-grabbing and sexual abuse by now-suspended Trinamool Congress leader Shajahan Sheikh and his men, who are involved in fish farming and trading.
Last month, West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose had constituted a team of experts to conduct a study of the lands in Sandeshkhali that were illegally grabbed from villagers and turned into fish farms, and suggest ways to utilise them.
News agency PTI quoted experts in the field as saying that the topsoil of the farmlands allegedly snatched by Shajahan and now returned to the original owners have become unfit for agriculture due to the draining of saline water for fish farming, and the topsoil needs to be replaced to make those lands suitable for cultivation again.
Rekha Patra, an alleged victim of torture at the hands of Shajahan Sheikh and his aides, has been given election ticket by the Bharatiya Janata Party. She is fielded from Basirhat Lok Sabha seat. Sandeshkhali is part of that constituency.
Patra was among the most vocal protestors of Sandeshkhali. The police arrested Shibu Hazra, a local muscleman and Shajahan Sheikh’s associate, based on her complaint.
Patra is also believed to have been part of the group that met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of his public meeting in Barasat on March 6 and narrated the plight of Sandeshkhali women to the PM.
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