After prolonged drama, CBI finally gets Sheikh Shahjahan's custody

Kolkata: After prolonged drama for the past two days, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday evening finally got the physical custody of Sheikh Shahjahan, the accused mastermind behind the attack on ED and CAPF teams at Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district on January 5.

Soon after the Calcutta High Court directed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the West Bengal police to hand over Shahjahan to the custody of CBI by 4.15 p.m. on Wednesday, a central agency team reached the CID headquarters at Bhabani Bhavan in Kolkata, where Shahjahan was housed since his arrest on February 29.

However, the CBI team had to wait for over three hours to get Shahjahan's physical custody.

As the CBI team waited at the Bhabani Bhavan, the CID officers took Shahjahan to the state-run S.S.K.M. Medical College & Hospital for a medical check-up.

Shahjahan was handed over to the CBI team after he was brought back to the CID headquarters following the medical check-up. Finally, at around 7 p.m., the convoy of CBI vehicles left Bhabani Bhavan.

A visibly shattered Shahjahan could be spotted sitting silently on the backseat of one of the vehicles in the convoy.

From Bhabani Bhavan, Shahjahan was first taken to the Central government-run E.S.I. Hospital in Joka for a second round of medical check-up. After the medical examination, he will be taken to CBI’s Nizam Palace office in central Kolkata.

On Tuesday, a CBI team had gone to the Bhabani Bhavan to take Shahjahan into custody after the Calcutta High Court directed the CID to hand the accused over to the central agency at the earliest.

However, the CBI officers left empty-handed from the Bhabani Bhavan, as the state government had by then moved the Supreme Court challenging the high court order.