In Sandeshkhali Case, Power Of Attorney Charge Against Sheikh Shahjahan

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has accessed crucial documents on how suspended Trinamool Congress leader Sheikh Shahjahan sold land owned by the people of Sandeshkhali.

Sources said that Shahjahan's men used to forcefully get the signatures of land owners or the Power of Attorney authorising him to sell that land to a third party.

This was over and above the modus operandi adopted by him to grab land by flooding it with saline water and making it useless.

As per the ED's findings, once Shahjahan got the Power of Attorney, the land was sold to a third party at premium prices while the actual land owner was given a paltry sum.

The ED mentioned this Power of Attorney modus operandi adopted by Shahjahan in the charge sheet filed at a special court of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Kolkata recently, sources added.

ED officials have tracked another source of income of Shahjahan where fisheries owners were compelled to sell the fish, mainly prawn and shrimp, produced at their farms only to agents chosen by the leader at a paltry price fixed by him.

Later, the same fish products were sold at a premium in the export market.

In its chargesheet filed last month, the ED has accused Shahjahan of collecting Rs 261 crore through illegal land grabbing in Sandeshkhali.

So far the central agency has identified 59.5 acres of illegally-grabbed land.

The ED has also confiscated assets and property worth Rs 27 crore owned by Shahjahan.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)