New Delhi, 11 March

The CBI has summoned nine close aides and associates of suspended TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh to appear before the agency on Monday, officials said.

The agency suspects that these nine individuals were allegedly part of the attack on Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials on 5 January and instigated the crowd to target the team when they went to raid the premises of Sheikh at Sandeshkhali in West Bengal, they said.

Sheikh, whose role in the attack is under probe, is under the custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) till 14 March, the officials said.

The CBI has taken over investigation in three cases related to incidents on January 5 when ED officials were attacked by an around 1000-strong mob when they went to search the premises of Sheikh in connection with the agency's investigation into an alleged ration distribution scam case, in which a former minister of the state has been arrested.

Sheikh was arrested by the state police on 29 February, a day after the high court ordered that the CBI, ED or the West Bengal police could arrest him.