Sandeshkhali Raids: CBI ‘Might Have Brought’ Arms, Ammo Seized During Searches, Claims Mamata

On Friday, the Central Bureau Investigation (CBI) raided multiple places in West Bengal's Sandeshkhali and seized a huge cache of arms, ammunition, and explosives from the troubled enclave, which has been on edge since January this year.

Sandeshkhali raids: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Saturday claimed that there was “no evidence of arms seizure in Sandeshkhali, hinting that the CBI may have “planted” the recovered items which she claimed “might have been brought by officials of the central agency”.

Addressing a poll rally in Kulti for TMC’s Asansol Lok Sabha candidate Shatrughan Sinha, Mamata asserted that the CBI carried out the Sandeshkhali raids without informing the West Bengal Police and expressed skepticism regarding the operations, stating that the recovered items “might have been brought by officials of the central agency”.

“Even if a firecracker goes off in Bengal, the NIA, CBI, NSG are coming to investigate. It seems that a war is going on. The state police were not informed. It is not known what was found. There was no evidence. The seized items might have been brought by them (CBI) in a car,” the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo said.

Sandeshkhali raids

On Friday, the Central Bureau Investigation (CBI) raided multiple places in West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali and seized a huge cache of arms, ammunition, and explosives from the troubled enclave, which has been on edge since January this year.

The searches were conducted in connection with the January 5 attack on an Enforcement Directorate (ED) team by a mob allegedly instigated by now-suspended Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Shahjahan Sheikh, officials said.

CBI teams, accompanied by bomb detection squads, the National Security Guard (NSG), along with personnel central paramilitary forces and the West Bengal Police personnel, raided the Sandeshkhali village in the North 24 Parganas district, during which a huge cache of foreign-made arms, includings pistols, were recovered.

Officials said the NSG units had been tasked with detecting and handling explosives, if any were found during the operation, while CBI sleuths spread across Sandeshkhali to search targeted locations.

During the searches, a huge cache of arms, ammunition, and explosives were seized from a house in Sarberia belonging to one Abu Taleb Mollah, a relative of Shahjahan Sheikh. Officials said it was unclear why such a huge cache of armaments were stockpiled there.

(With inputs from agencies)