Kolkata, Apr 21 (IANS): A picture of Ansar Sheikh, one of the prime accused in the case related to the communal violence in Delhi's Jahangirpuri on April 16, has surfaced, where Sheikh could be seen sitting next to Sheikh Ajijul Rahman, a Trinamool Congress councillor from the Haldia Municipality in East Midnapore district of West Bengal.
After Ansar Sheikh's name surfaced in connection with the clashes in Jahangirpuri, it emerged that he owns a luxurious mansion in Haldia, a prime industrial township near Kolkata.
Sheikh Ajijul Rahman is the Trinamool Congress councillor from Ward No. 15 of Haldia municipality, who's also a member of the chairman-in-council of the same municipality.
In the picture, a smiling Ansar Sheikh could be seen sitting next to Ajijul Rahman with his right arm on the shoulders of the Trinamool councillor.
When contacted, Rahman did not deny that he knew Ansar Sheikh.
"I do not recall when the picture was actually clicked. But I know Ansar Sheikh as a local resident. It is possible that the picture was clicked somewhere, though I do not remember exactly where," Rahman said.
The picture surfaced just a day after BJP legislator and the Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, had claimed that Sheikh was not only a close associate of the Trinamool leadership in East Midnapore district, but was also associated in an attack on his vehicle on May 2, 2021, just immediately after the declaration of Assembly election results.
"After I got elected from Nandigram, where I defeated Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, there was an attack on my vehicle in Haldia, where Sheikh has his residence. Sheikh was part of the Trinamool gang which was behind that attack," Adhikari said.
On April 16, communal clashes broke out between two groups of people during a procession taken out in Delhi's Jahangirpuri area to mark Hanuman Jayanti.
As many as eight police personnel and a civilian sustained injuries in the clashes.
Delhi Police on Sunday arrested 35-year-old Sheikh for his alleged role in the communal clashes.