Attack on ED: Absconding TMC leader’s affidavit shows 17 cars, gold, land

Seikh Shahjahan, the absconding Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and perceived principal mastermind behind the orchestrated attack on Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel in Sandeshkhali on Friday, owns huge assets in terms of vehicles, gold ornaments and land as per the election affidavit filed by him for the 2023 West Bengal panchayat polls.

As per the declarations in the affidavit filed with the West Bengal State Election Commission, Shahjahan's assets include as many as 17 vehicles, Rs 2.5 crore worth of gold ornaments and over 14 acres of land, whose estimated market value at the current rate is Rs 4 crore.

Apart from that, the bank deposits in this name, as per the declarations in the same affidavit, amount to Rs 1.92 crore.

Also as per the affidavit, Shahjahan has mentioned his profession as “business”, though the column does not detail the nature of business he is engaged in. Another striking point in the same affidavit is that nothing has been mentioned under the “education qualification” column.

However, ED officials are of the opinion that the property and assets mentioned by Shahjahan in the affidavit form are under-quoted. Besides being a fair price shop dealer, Shahjahan — as is reportedly widely known in his locality — virtually controls the mushrooming pisciculture farms in the Sandeshkhali area of North 24 Parganas district.

Apart from that, according to information gathered by the ED, he also indirectly controls the ownership of two brick-kilns operating in the area. A luxurious flat registered in his name in a minority-dense neighbourhood of south Kolkata has also come to the notice of the central agency, sources said.