Trinamool councillor Mohammad Jasimuddin was arrested from his residence in central Calcutta on Sunday on charges of sexually harassing a minor.
With his arrest, 11 Trinamool councillors across Calcutta and Salt Lake have been arrested since the Assembly election results were declared on May 4.
Of them, seven are councillors of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC).
Jasimuddin, the councillor of KMC’s Ward 39, was arrested under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act.
“Mohammad Jasimuddin, 54, was arrested from his residence in connection with a case registered at Jorasanko police station under provisions of the Pocso Act. He has also been arrested in connection with another case involving allegations of outraging the modesty of a woman,” said Soma Das Mitra, joint commissioner (crime), Kolkata Police.
The first case was filed on Saturday and the second on Sunday. Jasimuddin has been remanded to police custody.
The arrest came hours after another TMC councillor, Bappaditya Dasgupta, was arrested from Patuli on charges of extortion. Till Sunday, seven TMC councillors of the KMC and four of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation had been arrested.
Before the arrests of Jasimuddin and Dasgupta, five other Trinamool councillors of the KMC had been arrested — Biswajit Mondal from Regent Park, Mahesh Kumar Sharma from Burrabazar, Arijit Das Thakur from Garfa, Sachin Singh from Narkeldanga and Sudip Polley from the Behala–Thakurpukur area. Sudip was arrested earlier last month.
They were booked for charges varying from extortion, outraging the modesty of women or related to post-poll violence allegedly committed five years ago.
Trinamool councillors of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation have also been arrested over the past month since the BJP came to power after defeating the Trinamool Congress in the Assembly polls.
Sources said the arrests gathered pace after police units were directed to revisit old complaints and cases related to alleged extortion, cut-money demands and offences against women that were either not formally registered or were not thoroughly investigated because of alleged political pressure.
“There were complaints we could not act upon due to political pressure. Those cases are being dealt with now,” said an officer of Kolkata Police.
Bappaditya Dasgupta was pelted with eggs while being escorted out of Patuli police station on Sunday morning. He was later produced before an Alipore court, which remanded him to police custody.