Balurghat, Aug. 12: The state committee of the Forward Bloc has “temporarily expelled” the former South Dinajpur district secretary, Swapan Tarafdar, on grounds of anti-party activities.

On August 8, the committee had suspended Tarafdar from the party. However, three days later, the state leadership of the Bloc sent a faxed letter to the district secretariat here, expelling Tarafdar.

The leader had been the district secretary of the Bloc from 1992, when West Dinajpur was divided into North and South, to 2005. He was also a member of the party’s state committee.

While the current district secretary, Chittaranjan Roy, refused comment on the development, state secretariat member Hafizm Sairani said Tarafdar had been “temporarily expelled”.

“The party has formed a three-member committee to probe the charges against him. They will submit their report in three months and only after that will the party take a final decision on the issue,” Sairani said.

According to insiders, the charges against Tarafdar included fielding candidates against the ones nominated by the Bloc in the last panchayat elections, financial irregularities and occupation of land belonging to the party in Gangarampur.

When contacted, Tarafdar said he had not heard anything from the district leadership. “I had wanted to resign from the organising committees because I did not agree with some of the decisions being taken by the party,” Tarafdar claimed.

Denying all the charges levelled against him, Tarafdar accused “a section of party members” of taking unilateral decisions.