Paritosh Dutta, an external vendor accused of illegally keeping several rooms at Surendranath College under lock and key in alleged collusion with a former governing body member, was arrested in Burdwan on Thursday.
A team of Kolkata Police officers arrested Dutta in Burdwan and brought him to Calcutta later on Thursday.
He was produced before the Sealdah court, which remanded him in police custody till June 17.
The public prosecutor told the court that documents related to the Public Service Commission had been recovered from one of the locked rooms, broadening the scope of the investigation. The prosecution sought police custody of the accused, a request the court granted.
Police sources said Dutta had allegedly carried out the majority of civil work inside the college over the last five years due to his alleged proximity to Debasish Banerjee, a former governing body member who is the prime accused in this case.
“They (Banerjee and Dutta) have been charged with the offence of allegedly keeping several rooms on the ground floor of the college and a union room locked, and allegedly using them for their own purpose,” an officer attached to the case said.
“They forcibly locked several rooms on the ground floor, including the students’ union room, and used them for their own purpose,” the officer added.
A case has been registered against them at Muchipara police station under sections pertaining to criminal conspiracy, trespass, mischief and criminal intimidation, as well as provisions of the Arms Act and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.
Sources said Banerjee was not at home when police went to his residence on Wednesday to look for him.
Bundles of termite-eaten currency notes of ₹100 and ₹500 denominations stashed inside two trolley bags accidentally stumbled out of the students' union room of Surendranath College in Sealdah during an anti-mosquito drive in the college on Tuesday afternoon.
The state higher education department has sought a report from Surendranath College following reports of bundles of termite-eaten cash and a firearm being recovered on the campus.