A Malda resident has written to chief minister Mamata Banerjee, accusing a former Trinamul Congress councillor of making repeated attempts to grab their land.
Manoj Saha, the land owner at Sahapur under the jurisdiction of Sahapur police station, alleged that Ashish Kundu, the former councillor of Englishbazar municipality, had been threatening him because he had prevented the Trinamul leader’s attempts to encroach on the land.
The land measures around 24 cottahs. Saha had purchased the plot jointly with four others in 2012, the complainant said.
“We are building a boundary wall on the plot. But Ashish Kundu forcibly stopped the work. He threatened me with dire consequences and tried to grab the plot, while asserting that he was a leader of the ruling party and it was better that I listened to him,” said Saha.
Kundu had been the councillor from 2005 to 2020 and had also worked as the chairman of district primary school council.
A primary school teacher by occupation, he did not get a ticket in the last civic polls. Instead, his wife was offered a Trinamul ticket and she was elected. She is a member, chairperson-in-council now.
Kundu brushed aside the allegation and came up with a counter charge.
“I had never been to the plot and have been falsely implicated. I don’t even know him (Saha). But these days, members of land mafias are trying to grab a piece of land owned by my family. As they tried to encroach on it, I informed police. That is why all that has happened,” said the former councillor.
Krishnendu Choudhury, the chairman of Englishbazar municipality and a senior Trinamul leader, said: “If the allegation is found to be true, appropriate steps would be taken. Our party does not endorse land encroachments.”