Title: "Turbulence in Sandeshkhali: Aftermath of Mob Attack on ED Officials Shakes Trinamul Stronghold

Large portions of the Trinamul strongman's village Sarberia and nearby Dhamakhali appeared deserted on Saturday, twenty-four hours after the mob attack on Enforcement Directorate officials during a raid in connection with the PDS scam on Sheikh Shahjahan's residence at Sandeshkhali in North 24-Parganas.

Since Friday morning, there appears to have been an unofficial "bandh" in the area, with markets and stores remaining mostly shuttered and police patrols manning flashpoints and empty roadways.

To find those suspected of being involved in the violence on Friday, police teams raided a number of locations. Still, the majority of men in Dhamakhali and Sarberia had left their houses.

Trinamul opted to keep a quiet profile on Saturday. In Shahjahan's stronghold, the party did not formally protest.

Some laborers from brick kilns, who were close allies of Shahjahan and known to be Trinamul supporters, staged a protest against the ED raid near Sarberia Market, accusing it of being a “BJP conspiracy” to bring their leader to justice. Some party members threatened to organize a protest if Shahjahan's homes were once again targeted by central authorities for entry.

"The public thought that the ED team may plant money and documents at Shahjahan's house to implicate him, thus Friday's demonstration was unplanned. We merely attempted to stop the ED team from trying to break into his house," an employee from Trinamul stated.

On Saturday, the four residential properties belonging to Shahjahan and his family in Akunjipara, Sarberia, were discovered to be locked from the outside.

According to a nearby source, "we saw no movement in the vicinity except for police vans at regular intervals."

A few of Shahjahan's close aides forbade media from approaching the residences.

The majority of the local Trinamul leaders had fled. Those who could be located declined to discuss the violence on Friday or the individuals responsible. One of them remarked, "We are awaiting Bhai's (Shahjahan) instructions."

Numerous Trinamul leaders and supporters who were known to be connected to Shahjahan had their cell phones turned off.

Senior Trinamul politician Mithu Sardar, a Karmadhakshya of Sandeshkhali-I panchayat samiti, stated: "Those who love Shahjahan spontaneously staged Friday's protest." There was no official directive to stage a protest.

Furthermore, she would not acknowledge that Trinamul had issued a "bandh call" the day following the violence on Friday or that it had anything to do with the village and its environs being abandoned.

"At this time, our party has not planned any protests; we have denounced the ED's scheme. In the upcoming days, voters will respond appropriately to the BJP during the elections. Their attempt to link Shahjahan to the incident would fail, she warned.

However, Sarberian retailers asserted that they "were told" to close their doors for a minimum of twelve hours on Saturday.

A vendor in the Sarberia market remarked, "Everything here is controlled by one person, Shahjahan. We were instructed to keep our stores closed, and we have to comply."

Everyone "fears one person in Sandeshkhali, who has the blessings of our chief minister," according to local BJP leader Krishnendu Mukherjee.

"He is the leader of a group of thugs that murdered three members of our party prior to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Their remains remained unfound. Police eventually removed Shahjahan's name off the chargesheet despite though he was named as an accused in the FIR, according to Mukherjee.

Local CPM politician Biswajit Bose essentially repeated Mukherjee's remarks when he stated, "Under Shahjahan, who has the chief minister's blessings, Sandeshkhali has become a haven of criminals."

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Press Time staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.