Several Enforcement Directorate officials and members of the Central forces escorting them were grievously injured on Friday morning when they were attacked and chased away by around two thousand Trinamool Congress members armed with bamboos, brickbats, etc. The incident occurred at Sarberia village of Sandeshkhali Police Station in North 24 Parganas, about 73 km east of Kolkata. The officials had gone there to conduct raids on the properties of SK Sahjehan, a TMC strongman, to investigate his alleged role in the multi-crore ration scam. This scam has already led to the imprisonment of Jyotipriya Mallick, the Bengal Forest Minister, formerly in charge of the Food Ministry, last October.

“We were conducting raids at SK Sahjehan’s house around 8 in the morning. As the CRPF men were breaking the locks, suddenly thousands of people, including women armed with sticks and bamboos, charged in from all directions. They pushed us around and then attacked us. Our vehicles were literally smashed, and we had to run in all directions for our dear lives,” recounted an official.

Among the injured was an assistant director-level official, according to sources, and the officials have been admitted to a private facility in Kolkata. Locals reported that CRPF men had to beat a hasty retreat on the broken vehicles, while some of the ED men fled on

auto-rickshaws and totos when hundreds of armed men charged at them menacingly. Some sought refuge in the local police outpost, while others rushed to the riverside and were ferried across on police boats, sources added.

Apart from the attackers, some levelheaded people in the area privately praised the Central forces for showing utmost restraint in the melee. “God save us and many others... the Central forces acted very professionally by not opening fire. If they had done so, there would have been many casualties, and that could have led to mayhem in the area,” said a local teacher who was going to his school in the morning.

The planned nature of the attack was further supported by reports that the fleeing officials were waylaid at Basanti Highway en route to Kolkata.

“Their passage was blockaded by trucks. They were pulled out of their vehicles and hit with bamboo sticks. I saw two of them getting hit on the head, and one was bleeding profusely. We were so afraid that we could not go to help,” said a local shopkeeper, adding, “the bleeding officials were not even ready to go to the nearby health centre. They somehow managed to take auto-rickshaws.”

“What will you do when you are encircled by a thousand armed people from all sides in a distant land? It was a village, and many of us had to jump into the paddy fields to run to safety. We were running helter-skelter for some time. Are we doing national duty? Are we combat people, or are we dacoits?” an official said, literally on the verge of breaking down.

The raids were part of ED operations in 10 places, including the premises of TMC leader Shankhar Adhya in Bongaon and SK Sahjehan in North 24 Parganas. Their premises were reportedly being raided due to their alleged connections to the ration scam. It is also alleged that Adhya has been involved in money trading, and the agencies were looking into his possible role in money laundering related to recruitment and ration scams.

Switching to Sandeshkhali, Union Minister of State for Home Nisith Pramanik, giving his first reaction to the incident, said, “It is the duty of the State police to provide security, but things work differently in Bengal where security forces are under regular attack.”

He said Friday’s attack was not on the Central officials but “on the federal structure.” He added, “The Centre has taken this matter very seriously, and we will inquire into it with all seriousness.”

Curiously, local TMC MLA Srikanto Mahato justified the mob attack, calling it “jano rosh (public anger).” He said, “How do the villagers know who has come? It could be dacoits; it could be thieves in uniform trying to break open the locks. So they thought that they should protect the house of their dear leader, and they ran to save his house.”

Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said, “The BJP is using the ED to malign TMC leaders by conducting sporadic raids. This is being done to instigate the people before the elections so that the ruling party gets a bad name. But they will not succeed.”

Reacting to the incident, BJP State president Sukanto Majumdar said the attack on the law enforcement agency was a reflection of the future of the people of Bengal, adding, “It is an indication of what the Rohingyas are doing to the law and order in the state.”

State Opposition Leader Suvendu Adhikari called the attack on government officials “an attack on the constitution and the sovereignty of India that should be taken very seriously. There should be an NIA probe ordered into the incident,” he said.

“Horrific. The Law & Order Situation in West Bengal is in shambles. ED Officials & CRPF Jawans brutally attacked in Sandeshkhali; North 24 Parganas district, while conducting a raid at TMC leader Sheikh Shahjahan’s house. I doubt that Rohingyas are present amongst the Anti-National attackers,” he wrote on X.

ED and CRPF dispatched two parallel reports to their respective authorities in Delhi, sources said.

Meanwhile, your correspondent gathered the following reports on the TMC strongman Sk Sahajehan, considered the main mastermind behind Friday’s attack.

SK Sahajehan, the Trinamool Congress strongman whose influence extends over an extensive part of North and South 24 Parganas, began as a CPI(M) worker during the Left rule. He transitioned into a “social worker-cum-strongman” after 2014 when he joined the Trinamool Congress, convinced that there was no chance of the Left coming back to power anytime soon.

Over the past decade, Sahjehan, named in numerous criminal cases, including homicide but known for his “decent looks and suave ways,” has built an empire worth tens of crores, according to locals in North and South 24 Parganas districts. They added that he owns several fisheries, fish processing units, fish markets, brick kilns, besides having interests in money trading, ferry business, and sand and earth quarrying worth crores. Locals also mentioned that he had been on good terms with jailed Food Minister Jyotipriya Mallick.