Kolkata, March 6 (IANS) The Calcutta High Court has directed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the West Bengal police to hand over Sheikh Shahjahan, the accused mastermind behind the attack on ED and CAPF teams in Sandeshkhali on January 5, to the custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) by 4.15 p.m. on Wednesday.

A division bench of the high court presided over by Justice Harish Tandon gave this direction on Wednesday while hearing a petition filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) earlier in the day.

The bench maintained that the attempt by the state authorities to delay the process of handing over Shahjahan to CBI custody is indirectly an attempt to protect the accused.

It said the state government cannot delay the process when the Calcutta High Court has already passed an order on Tuesday for handing over the accused to the CBI.

Justice Tandon also observed that merely approaching the Supreme Court challenging the high court order does not mean that there is a stay on the order.

Armed with the Calcutta High Court order, three officials of the CBI, accompanied by Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel, had reached the CID headquarters at the Bhabani Bhavan here at 4.40 p.m. on Tuesday for the official handing over of Shahjahan and all case-related documents.

However, after over two hours of discussions, the CBI officials left empty-handed from the Bhabani Bhavan at 7.05 p.m.

Sources said since the state government had already moved the Supreme Court challenging the high court order, the CID authorities refused to hand over the accused to the central agency the same evening.