Two women leaders of the Trinamool Congress were arrested on Wednesday for their alleged involvement in the attack on Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials in Sandeshkhali on January 5, 2024.

A team of Nazat police in South 24-Parganas has arrested Sabita Roy and Mithu Sardar following a tip-off.

Roy, 50, is president of Trinamool's Basirhat organisational district and chief of the Sandeshkhali 1 panchayat samiti. Sardar, 38, is the president of the party's Sandeshkhali 1 block committee and a member of the panchayat samiti.

Roy is a resident of Sarberia, while Sardar hails from Agarhati Rajbari in Sandeshkhali.

This is the first instance of Trinamool office-bearers being arrested in connection with the Sandeshkhali attack after the arrest of suspended party strongman Sheikh Shahjahan.

Sources said that despite being named in the case started by the Nazat police, Roy and Sardar had allegedly evaded arrest for a prolonged period because of their political influence during the Trinamool regime.

On January 5, 2024, a team of ED officials, accompanied by Central Reserve Police Force personnel, went to Sandeshkhali to investigate alleged irregularities in the multi-crore ration distribution scam. The central agency team allegedly came under an attack by supporters of Shahjahan at Sarberia. Several ED officials were injured, their vehicles vandalised and the team was allegedly assaulted and obstructed from carrying out duties.

According to police sources, Roy and Sardar have been booked under multiple sections related to unlawful assembly, rioting, armed rioting, obstruction of public servants, attempt to murder, causing grievous hurt, wrongful restraint, wrongful confinement, assault, robbery using deadly weapons, vandalism and criminal intimidation.

“The role of these two women in the ED attack case is being investigated. They had been absconding for a long time. We need their custody for interrogation to identify others involved in the attack,” a police officer said.

The two accused were produced in the additional chief judicial magistrate’s court in Basirhat and remanded in 14 days’ police custody.

The investigators suspect that both leaders, considered close associates of Shahjahan, allegedly played a key role in mobilising local supporters and organising the violent resistance that culminated in the attack on the ED team and destruction of official vehicles.

The police had recently intensified efforts to trace the absconding accused following a review of the law and order in the area.

Earlier this month, two other accused — Hafizul Khan, a Trinamool activist from Sarberia Natun Bazar, and another party worker, Mazirana Biwi — were arrested in connection with the same incident.

The Sandeshkhali episode later snowballed into a major political flashpoint in Bengal politics. Following the attack on ED officials, the central agency issued lookout notices against Shahjahan and his family members. Public anger against Shahjahan subsequently erupted across Sandeshkhali, with widespread protests, vandalism and attacks on properties allegedly linked to his close aides. Poultry farms, houses and offices associated with Shahjahan’s network were targeted by agitated residents.

Amid mounting pressure and political controversy, Calcutta High Court clarified that there was no legal stay on Shahjahan’s arrest.

Subsequently, 55 days after the attack on the ED officials, the police arrested Shahjahan from Minakhan.