Sandeshkhali Violence: ‘Missing’ TMC Leader Arrested, Charged With Gangrape

Shibhu Prasad Hazra and another TMC member have been accused of rape and sexual abuse by women in Sandeshkhali, police said.

Sandeshkhali Violence: A local leader of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) who was “missing” after being accused of rape and sexual harassment by women in the violence-hit Sandeshkhali region in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, has been arrested by the police.

In a statement, West Bengal police said TMC Block President Shibu Prasad Hazra was arrested on Saturday and booked for gangrape and other charges under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Hazra and another TMC member have been accused of rape and sexual abuse by women in Sandeshkhali, they said.

A senior official said that Hazra is one of the prime accused in the case of land grab and sexual harassment of women in Sandeshkhali. Hazra, he said, who has been named in police complaints along with party colleagues and other two prime accused Shajahan Sheikh and Uttam Sardar, was nabbed from a hideout in Sandeshkhali.

The TMC leader will be produced before a local court on Sunday, the official added.

“We have arrested Shiba Prasad Hazra from Sandeshkhali this evening. He will be produced before the court tomorrow,” an officer of Nazat Police Station told news agency PTI.

Earlier, police have also arrested Uttam Sardar but the main accused Shajahan Sheikh remains absconding.

With the fresh arrest, two of the three prime accused have been nabbed. A total of 18 people have been arrested in the case so far.

Meanwhile, the police added IPC sections 376D (gangrape) and 307 (attempt to murder) in the case after a survivor recorded her statement under Section 164 of Code of Criminal Procedure before a magistrate, PTI reported, citing sources.

Earlier this week, a fact-finding report by the National Commission For Women (NCW) claimed that there was a widespread and omnipresent atmosphere of fear as well as “systematic abuse” by local police officers and members of the ruling TMC in Sandeshkhali where women are protesting against the alleged “sexual abuse” and land grabbing by local TMC strongman Shahjahan Sheikh.

A large number of women in Sandeshkhali have claimed that TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh and his “gang” captured swathes of land by force, besides “sexually harassing” them.

They demanded the immediate arrest of Sheikh, who has been absconding since last month after a team of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that went to raid his house in connection with an alleged ration scam was attacked by a mob.

(With PTI inputs)