Absconding TMC strongman Shajahan Sheikh, the main accused of sexual abuse and land grabbing in Sandeshkhali, was arrested in the early hours of Thursday after being on the run for 55 days that witnessed violent protests led by local women and a fierce political slugfest.

Additional Director-General of Police (South Bengal) Supratim Sarkar said Sheikh was arrested from a house in Bamanpukur in Minakhan police station area, around 30 km away from the island of Sandeshkhali on the outskirts of Sunderbans, in North 24 Parganas district.

 Sheikh was hiding in the house along with a few associates, police said.

 After the arrest, he was taken to the Basirhat court, which sent him to 10 days in police custody.

Sheikh, who has been at the centre of a massive political firestorm, came out of the lock-up around 10.40 am dressed in white kurta-pajama, and walked to the courtroom with policemen behind him. He also made a gesture with his hand at the media contingent waiting there.

After the hearing, which lasted for barely two minutes, he returned to the lock-up. Later, police whisked him away to an undisclosed destination.

 Sheikh was taken into custody within 24 hours of the Calcutta High Court stating that the CBI, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) or the West Bengal Police can arrest him.

 Governor CV Ananda Bose, who had on Monday night given a 72-hour “deadline” to the state government for Sheikh’s arrest, said, “There is always light at the end of the tunnel. I welcome it.”

“This is the beginning of an end. We have to put an end to the cycle of violence in Bengal. In parts of Bengal, the goons are ruling the roost. This must end and the gangsters should be put behind bars,” he said.

 The Trinamool Congress said the arrest was possible as the court cleared the decks, while the BJP dubbed it as “scripted”.

“Due to a legal tangle, he couldn’t be arrested initially. However, after the court clarified that there was no stay on his arrest, the West Bengal Police did its job. The opposition had earlier exploited the embargo on his arrest,” TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh told PTI.

 “We had said he would be arrested in seven days as we were confident of the ability of the state police,” he added.

The opposition BJP claimed the state police were forced to arrest Sheikh because of its agitations.

“It was the TMC and the state police which were shielding the culprit. He has been arrested now as a part of a well-scripted story. The state administration was forced to arrest him because of the continuous agitation led by us,” BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said.

 Police said Sheikh was arrested in the two cases lodged at the Nazat police station in connection with an assault on Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers on January 5 during a raid at his house in a ration scam case.

He was booked under IPC sections 147 (guilty of rioting), 148 (guilty of rioting being armed with a deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 307 (attempt to murder), 333 (whoever voluntarily causes grievous hurt to any person being a public servant) and 392 (robbery), they said.

Sheikh was traced with the help of his mobile phone’s tower location, a police officer said.