A court on Friday sent Bishu Dhar, a Trinamool Congress leader from Dinhata, to police custody for seven days.
Dhar, Trinamool’s former president of Dinhata Town block, had been arrested on Wednesday night on charges of extortion and misappropriation of funds at an organisation named Shishumangal Samiti.
“He was produced in the additional chief judicial magistrate’s court in Dinhata today in connection with the Shishumangal Samiti case. The court heard the case and sent him to police custody for seven days,” said Sanjay Barman, the additional public prosecutor.
Sources said the police had sought 13 days of police custody, but the court granted seven days. As he was brought to the court, a section of BJP workers and supporters shouted slogans against Dhar.
On June 12, Rupam Saha, a Dinhata resident, had filed a complaint with the police, alleging that the samiti was formed by former minister Udayan Guha, along with Dhar and some others and extorted money from people, business houses and institutions on the pretext of carrying out infrastructural development works at the local sub-divisional hospital. The fund, he alleged, however, was misappropriated.
Earlier, Guha was arrested, and in due course, Dhar was also nabbed.
“Bishu Dhar will be questioned to gather details about the financial transactions and to identify others who may have been involved in the suspected racket,” said a source.
In another case, a team from the Sahebganj police station in Cooch Behar arrested Jayanta Barman, a former president of the youth Trinamool of the Barasakdal panchayat area, from the Uttar Barasakdal area on Thursday. An improvised firearm and two rounds of live ammunition have been recovered from him. The police have registered a case under the Arms Act and have initiated a probe.
Complaint
A panchayat employee who is also a Trinamool worker in the Golapganj area under Kaliachak police station of Malda, has been accused of taking ₹6.5 lakh from a farmer while promising him to secure jobs for primary school teachers for his two sons.
Khagen Mandal, the farmer, has alleged that despite filing a complaint with the police last year, he neither got the money back nor saw any action taken against Amalkanti Sarkar, the accused.
Recently, Mandal shared a video on social media, which he claimed shows him handing over cash to Sarkar as proof of the transaction.
“Around six years back, I approached Amalkanti Sarkar, who works in a panchayat in the Harishchandrapur-I block and is a TMC leader, and asked him whether he could arrange jobs for my sons,” said Mandal.
“He told me that he could arrange primary school teachers’ jobs if I paid ₹20 lakh. As I could not afford that amount, I managed to pay him ₹6.5 lakh after selling my agricultural land,” he added.
The farmer claimed that neither of his sons received the jobs, nor did Sarkar return the money.
“I lodged a police complaint in 2024, but no action was taken. Instead, I was allegedly threatened with dire consequences,” he said.
Following the recent political change in the state, Mandal filed a fresh complaint with the police and has also informed the district magistrate, seeking a fair investigation.
Sarkar could not be contacted as his cell phone was unreachable. The police have initiated a probe, sources said.