West Bengal: Suvendu Adhikari heads towards trouble-torn Sandeshkhali

Nearly 19 places in and around Sandeshkhali have been under prohibitory orders since Wednesday, a day after the Calcutta High Court cancelled the Section 144 Cr PC in the entire Sandeshkhali.

Sandeshkhali has been on the boil as the women in the area are demanding the arrest of absconding TMC leader Sahjahan Sheikh and his close aide Shibu Hazra, who are accused of sexual harassment and grabbing farmers' land for personal use.

The Opposition parties like the BJP, CPI(M), and Congress wanted to send their respective delegation to assess the situation.

They have been alleging that the TMC-supported miscreants are terrorising the people, especially the women, of the area to stop their agitation.

"I am a law-abiding citizen and I am going to Sandeshkhali with four other legislators to meet the local people and party karyakartas who have been subjected to harassment and sexual assaults by the TMC goons," Adhikari told reporters before boarding a bus to Sandeshkhali.

"We will do our job, and the police will do their job," Adhikari said when asked if the police prevented him from going there as the law enforcement agencies stopped BJP President Sukanta Majumdar on Wednesday.

Earlier, the Left Front led by the CPI(M) in a separate rally gheraoed the SP office at Textile More in Baharampur where the protesters and the police scuffled with each other who used batons and lobbed teargas shells to disperse the agitators.

A few days back, police stopped a Congress delegation from going to Sandeshkhali at Rampur in North 24 Parganas.

(With UNI inputs)