Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), probing the Sandeshkhali incident on Calcutta High Court order in connection with the PDS scam, today dug up a huge cache of arms and ammunition and recovered an ID card with a photo of Shahjahan and a box full of explosives.
The bomb disposal squad of the National Security Guard (NSG) had to be called in to defuse explosives which were allegedly stored underground at a house in Sarberia of Sandeshkhali.
A source in the know claimed as many as 12 foreign-made firearms had been recovered from the house.
The Election Commission sought a report from the DEO on the alleged arms haul at Sandeshkhali.
Ruling Trinamul Congress has, on expected lines, chided the venture as an act of drama allegedly engineered by agency at the behest of the BJP.
Kunal Ghosh, party spokesperson told news persons that the arms recovery at Sandeshkhali was nothing but a drama to divert people’s attention from the ongoing polls, which the BJP would lose.
Earlier today, a team of CBI officers, based on a specific tip-off conducted searches at a house allegedly owned by one Abu Taleb Mollah, who the source claimed is a relative of a local Trinamul leader, who is a panchayat member.
The alleged retrieval however, turned more intriguing, when the CBI officers went for the search and stumbled upon a box.
An alarmed CBI due to the unfolding pattern of recovery, called in the bomb disposal squad of NSG to unravel the hidden mystery inside the box.
A team of NSG commandos in armoured vehicles cordoned off the entire house and emptied the area by asking the locals to stay away from the area.
With the central agency and the NSG along with the central forces standing guard, there was no surety about the type of explosives stored inside. A robot, along with state-of-the-art machineries, was deployed to retrieve the explosives.
Sources in the know claimed that the alleged arms haul included one country-made pistol, one police revolver, 50 bullets of .45 calibre, 120, 9-mm bullets and more importantly an ID card with a photo of Sheikh Shahjahan was recovered.
Sources claimed that the agency was already in the work of collecting clues on the whereabouts of the alleged owner Abu Taleb Mollah, a kin of an alleged local TMC leader.
On 5 January, an ED team had to make a hasty retreat from the raid, following a barrage of protests and attacks, by the followers of the now arrested Sandeshkhali Trinamul congress strongman Sheikh Shahjahan.
He was finally arrested by the state police after 56 days, following Calcutta High Court orders.