Three persons associated with the Trinamool Congress, including a gram panchayat chief and an INTTUC leader, have been arrested in separate cases of financial corruption and extortion.
In the first case, police arrested Smritikana Mondal, the head of the Trinamool-run Bilaimari panchayat and her husband, Anil, for defalcation of nearly ₹13 crore at the Sahanagar Krishi Unnayan Samiti Limited mini bank in Ratua 1 block.
Three other accused in the case are at large, and the police are searching for them.
Sources said Anil had served as the manager of the mini bank for years and was known to be close to Ratua Trinamool MLA Samar
Mukherjee.
Later, he appointed his son Amit as manager of the institution. Amit held the position for five to seven years, while Anil’s nephew Pranab worked as the cashier.
Over the years, nearly 5,000 small farmers and residents had deposited their savings in the cooperative bank.
However, about a year ago, the bank suddenly closed. Since then, the manager and the cashier have gone into hiding. The depositors alleged that around ₹13 crore to ₹14 crore was misappropriated by the bank.
Based on a complaint lodged on May 14 by Hriday Mondal, the police initiated a probe and arrested Smritikana and Anil on Thursday night.
Somnath Saha, the subdivisional police officer of Chanchal, said the investigation was in progress.
In another incident, the police arrested a leader of the INTTUC — Trinamool’s trade union — on Friday night on charges of extorting money from e-rickshaw drivers.
Saddam Sheikh is the vice-president of the INTTUC’s Kaliachak 1 block unit.
The police said Sheikh, who is from Ghorialichak, has been forcibly collecting money from the drivers in Kaliachak for a long time.
The police in North Dinajpur arrested Rantu Das, the district president of the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP), on Friday from Calcutta for allegedly being involved in an illegal lottery racket. Nawab Ali, another accused, was arrested from Mirik in connection with the same case.
Police sources said Rantu had been facing allegations of connection with land mafia, extortion, and illegal syndicate operations. Recently, his name also surfaced in connection with an illegal lottery business.
Rantu, however, denied the charges. “I have been falsely implicated in the case. After the new government was formed in the state, I was arrested because of a political vendetta,”
he said.