CBI creates e-mail ID for land-grab victims in West Bengal's Sandeshkhali

Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Shahjahan Sheikh

The CBI has created a dedicated e-mail ID -- sandeshkhali@cbi.gov.in -- on which victims of land grab in Sandeshkhali, a village in West Bengal, can get their complaints lodged, officials said on Thursday. The agency has created the e-mail ID in compliance with the orders of the Calcutta High Court passed on Wednesday.

"The District Magistrate, North 24 Parganas has also been requested to give adequate publicity of the said e-mail ID in the locality and also issue a public notice in the vernacular dailies having a wide circulation in the areas as per the Hon'ble High Court's order," a CBI spokesperson said in a statement. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will start registering cases on the basis of the complaints received by it, sources said.

The high court on Wednesday ordered a court-monitored CBI probe into allegations of crimes against women and land grabbing in Sandeshkhali, saying an "impartial inquiry" is required in the interest of justice and fair play. The court also directed the CBI to file a comprehensive report on the alleged illegal conversion of agricultural land into water bodies for pisciculture, after conducting a thorough inspection of the revenue records and a physical inspection of the land alleged to have been converted.

The court asked the central agency to submit a comprehensive report to it on the next date of hearing on May 2. The state government was directed to provide the required support to the CBI.

The agency is already probing three cases related to attacks on Enforcement Directorate officials at Sandeshkhali allegedly by a mob instigated by Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Shahjahan Sheikh.