West Bengal Police on Wednesday handed over the custody of suspended Trinamool Congress leader Shahjahan Sheikh to the Central Bureau of Investigation, The Indian Express reported.

Sheikh is an accused in the case relating to the attack on Enforcement Directorate officials in the state’s Sandeshkhali village in January.

The West Bengal Crime Investigation Department sent Sheikh to a hospital for a medical check-up, as per the procedure, before handing him to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

This came following a fresh directive of the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the court had transferred Sheikh’s custody to the Central Bureau of Investigation, but the order was challenged by the West Bengal government.

The officials of the Enforcement Directorate were allegedly attacked while carrying out a raid at Sheikh’s home in Sandeshkhali on January 5, in connection with an alleged ration distribution scam.

The Trinamool Congress state government told the Calcutta High Court that it would file a special leave petition in the matter before the Supreme Court and requested that Sheikh’s custody should not be transferred before it has done so. The court, however, did not grant this request.

On Tuesday, the bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya, while directing the Central Bureau of Investigation to take over the case, overturned an earlier order under which a Special Investigation Team comprising members of the state police was constituted to investigate the matter.

In its order court directing the central agency to take charge of the investigation, the Calcutta High Court held that the West Bengal Police was “biased and every attempt is being made to delay the investigation in order to protect the accused, who has been absconding for more than 50 days”.

Sheikh was arrested by the police on February 29.

The court said that Sheikh is a “strongman” with connections to the state’s ruling party and that the police had played “hide and seek” to shield the accused.

On Tuesday, a team of the central agency, accompanied by paramilitary personnel, arrived at the Crime Investigation Department in Kolkata to take Sheikh into custody but the police refused to hand him over, saying the matter was pending in the court.

On February 29, Trinamool Congress suspended Sheikh for six years amid mounting pressure on the party to take action against its leader.

Sheikh and his associates Shiba Prasad Hazra and Uttam Sardar have also been accused by a group of women in Sandeshkhali of sexual assault and land-grabbing. While Sardar was arrested on February 11, Hazra was arrested on February 17.

Also read: How the alleged excesses of a local Trinamool Congress leader snowballed into a political war in Sandheskhali