cbi-opens-interim-help-desk-in-sandeshkhali-amid-fresh-reports-of-violence

Sandeshkhali continues to be on boil. Amid fresh reports on protests — from a local woman being abducted to chaos on sting operation — a development on setting temporary help desk by the CBI has been reported.

 

Sources claim that in wake of the escalating tensions, officials of the Central Bureau of Investigation have decided to conduct probe directly from Sandeshkhali.

 

It has been learnt that the complaints, which the central probe agency has received till now pertaining to the Sandeshkhali incident, the CBI will investigate them from the temporary help desk.

 

Several officials from the CBI office in Kolkata have already reached Sandeshkhali on Friday to talk to the complainants.

 

An officer of the rank of SP also went to Sandeshkhali on Thursday.

 

According to CBI sources, they are not stopping receiving complaints through email. However, the investigating agency has decided to open a temporary camp there so that the people of the village can easily file complaints.

 

Two weeks before Sandeshkhali goes to the polls, tension prevailed in the riverine area in West Bengal on Thursday, with a woman alleging abduction based on the instructions of a TMC leader. The woman, a local who has been forefront of protests against the TMC leadership, said that she was abducted by three persons from outside her residence. A complaint was lodged by her at the Sandeshkhali Police Station on Thursday.

 

The woman said that she was threatened to not approach the police and the courts, and to say that she was asked by the BJP to file a false complaint, and that the alleged incidents of atrocities against women in Sandeshkhali by local TMC leaders were “false”. The region has been on the boil since February 2024, after allegations of land grab and sexual assault directed at local TMC leaders surfaced.

 

A section of villagers in Sandeshkhali has accused the currently suspended TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh and his party of land grabbing, harassment and torture.

 

On April 10, the Calcutta High Court ordered that the CBI will investigate Sandeshkhali's case related to women’s abuse and land.