The move comes a day after the CBI recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition, including foreign-made revolvers and pistols, from a house in Sandeshkhali, which the agency said belonged to an associate of TMC strongman Sheikh Shahjahan. The CBI called in the bomb disposal squad of the National Security Guard (NSG) to dispose of the cache.

The complaint letter (a copy of which is with The Indian Express) stated, “…though ‘law and order’ is a domain falling completely within the ambit of the State Government, the CBI did not issue an actionable notice to the State Government and/or the police authorities before carrying out such a raid. Further, the State Police has a fully functional bomb disposal squad which could have assisted the entire operation, if the CBI indeed felt that a bomb squad was required during such a raid. However, no such assistance was sought by the CBI…”

“There is no way of knowing with certainty as to whether these weapons were indeed recovered during the search and seizure procedure or whether they were surreptitiously planted by the CBI/NSG…,” the TMC went on to allege.

“Today’s actions are another testament to the fact that the BJP has weaponised Central investigating agencies, including the CBI to, inter alia, carry out a smear campaign against AITC which would help sway the mindset of the voters in its favour. It is reiterated that in the absence of any representative of the State Government, the purported recovery of arms and ammunition is possibly a ploy employed by the BJP in conspiracy with the CBI and the NSG to plant such weapons at the site…” it read.

The letter added, “In such circumstances, you are called upon to forthwith: a. Issue immediate guidelines/framework, whereby, political parties and their functionaries are not taken steps against by any Central investigating agency, including the CBI, during the period of elections; b. Issue immediate directions to the agencies and the media to remove all references to AITC in their reporting…”

According to the CBI, Friday’s seizure included three foreign-made revolvers, one Indian revolver, one Colt official police revolver, one foreign-made pistol, one country-made pistol, 120 nine mm bullets, fifty .45 calibre cartridges, 120 nine mm calibre cartridges, fifty .380 cartridges, and eight .32 cartridges. Besides, many incriminating documents related to Shahjahan were also seized.