Mamata Banerjee to visit Sandeshkhali on December 30, her first visit since the protests | Latest news India

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said she will travel to Sandeshkhali on December 30, her first visit to the island in North 24 Parganas, following protests over allegations of land grabbing and sexual assault involving Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Shahjahan Sheikh.

“I will go to Sandeshkhali on December 30 to participate in a public distribution programme. Many people asked me before the Lok Sabha polls when I will visit Sandeshkhali. I told them I would go there,” she told reporters from .

Sandeshkhali, comprising 16 village panchayat areas in North 24 Parganas district, has been witnessing tension for weeks after an Enforcement Directorate team, which went to raid the house of Shahjahan Sheikh in connection with a money laundering case money, was attacked by a mob on January 5 this year.

Villagers led by local women, who alleged sexual assault by him and his associates, and others staged protests.

Shahjahan was arrested in February after which the Calcutta High Court transferred the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Read also: CBI Creates Dedicated Email ID for Sandeshkhali Land Grabbing Victims in Bengal

During an election rally in Basirhat in May, Banerjee had promised to visit Sandeshkhali after the election results were declared.

“After Haji Nurul Islam (TMC candidate from Basirhat) wins the Lok Sabha polls, I will visit Sandeshkhali in a few days to meet the people,” she said at the rally in Basirhat.

Amid allegations and counter-allegations between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the TMC over the Sandeshkhali issue, TMC replaced actor-turned-MP Nusrat Jahan, the sitting MLA of Basirhat, with veteran politician Sk Nurul Islam as its candidate.

Islam won the election by a margin of 3,33,547 votes.