ED chief holds meeting over assault on officials during raid

Kolkata: Enforcement Directorate (ED) chief Rahul Navin on Tuesday held a meeting with its officers in Kolkata over a mob attack on the agency offices during a raid in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district last week.

Issues such as how to arrest the absconding Trinamool Congress leader, near whose Sandeshkhali residence the officials were assaulted, were discussed at the meeting, ED officers said. The raid was in connection with the ration distribution scam.

ED Special Director Subhash Agarwal, officers of the agency who are probing the scam, CISF and CRPF officers and Income Tax director Pankaj Kumar were present at the meeting, a source said.

Personnel of the central forces accompanying the ED team were also attacked by the mob. Three ED officers had to be hospitalised following the assault.

Additional directors of Kolkata Zonal Offices Vinod Sharma and Sudesh Kumar Sheoran also attended the meeting.

'At the meeting, discussions were held on the strategies for arresting the accused TMC leader of Sandeshkhali who has been absconding since last week. Discussions were also held on the report on the attack filed by the ED,' the officer told PTI.

The ED unit in the state has submitted a report to its headquarters about the incident in which three officers were injured and several of their vehicles vandalised, as hundreds of supporters of TMC leader Sahajahan Sheikh attacked them on January 5 when the team went to conduct the raid.

The officers also deliberated on the attack of ED officers while arresting another TMC leader Shankar Adhya from Bongaon during a raid on the same day and how to take the investigation into the ration scam forward, he added.

Soon after the 3-hour-long meeting, ED chief Navin called on West Bengal Governor Dr CV Ananda Bose and briefed him about the discussions, a source said.

Navin arrived in Kolkata on Monday night.

The ED has lodged a complaint at the Nazat police station in connection with the assault. The family of the accused TMC leader Sahajahan Sheikh, and the state police have also registered separate complaints against the central probe agency.

A look-out notice was also issued against Sahajahan, considered a close aide of state minister Jyotipriyo Mallick, who was arrested last year in connection with the multi-crore ration distribution scam.