Trinamool strongman and former north Bengal development minister Udayan Guha was arrested by Cooch Behar police from his home in Calcutta’s Phoolbagan on Wednesday.
Guha is the fourth former Trinamool minister to be arrested after the BJP government came to power in the state. Those already in custody are Sujit Bose, Dilip Mandal and Ujjal Biswas.
After the arrest, Guha was taken to Phoolbagan police station, and later, the police team left for Cooch Behar with him by road. He is likely to be produced in a local court in Dinhata, the family borough that he represented as MLA thrice before his defeat in the Assembly polls this year, on Thursday.
The police did not mention the specific case in connection with which Guha was arrested. Although the former minister is facing multiple allegations and cases, police sources hinted that the arrest was linked to a recent complaint of cheating and extortion registered at Dinhata police station.
The complainant, said to be a resident of the Bhangni area of Dinhata, has alleged in the police complaint that money had been collected after the 2021 Assembly elections from various individuals and business houses, often without any receipts.
“Many people who are associated with political parties other than Trinamool were threatened and forced to pay up. My family had paid around ₹35,000 in instalments,” a police source quoted the complainant as saying.
The money, sources said, was collected from across Dinhata on the pretext of developing a paediatric intensive care unit at Dinhata sub-divisional hospital through the Dinhata Shishumangal Samiti, an unregistered organisation.
The complainant, the sources said, has alleged that only a small portion of the funds had been spent on hospital development while the rest remains unaccounted for, raising allegations of financial misappropriation.
As the police conducted a probe on the basis of the complaint, they found that Guha served as secretary of the Dinhata Shishumangal Samiti. Physician Bidyutkamal Saha, the Samiti president, is also named as an accused along with some other Trinamool leaders, workers and influential individuals.
“The investigators are examining how a bank account was opened in the name of an unregistered organisation, how much money was collected and how those funds were utilised,” a source said.
Apart from this case, multiple allegations related to financial irregularities in government projects — particularly housing schemes — have surfaced against Guha since 2016, said a Dinhata resident.
As the news of his arrest spread, BJP workers and supporters across Dinhata sub-division came together to celebrate. Sweets were distributed in different areas. Ajay Ray, the local BJP MLA who defeated Guha in the recent polls, was also seen celebrating with party workers.
“There are many allegations against Udayan Guha. After the 2021 Assembly elections, he was accused of being involved in post-poll violence, including vandalism and attacks on many houses. Even a team of the National Human Rights Commission had termed him a ‘notorious criminal’ during their visit to Dinhata,” Ray said.
Ray said Guha was involved in various criminal cases, including the murder of BJP worker Ratan Burman. The BJP MLA also alleged that Guha took “cut money” from beneficiaries of government schemes such as Banglar Bari.
“He should have been arrested much earlier, but he had fled Dinhata soon after the May 4 poll results,” he said.
Guha comes from a political family. His father, the Forward Bloc leader Kamal Guha, was agriculture minister in the Left Front cabinet.
Udayan Guha took the legislative plunge in 2011 when he won the Dinhata Assembly seat on a Forward Bloc ticket, only to switch to Trinamool in October 2015. He won again in 2016, this time as a Trinamool candidate.
In the 2021 Assembly polls, he lost Dinhata to the BJP’s Nisith Pramanik. However, after the polls, Pramanik decided to retain his Lok Sabha seat, giving up the Dinhata Assembly seat.
Guha won the bypoll in November 2021 by 1.64 lakh votes. In the 2026 polls, he lost the seat to the BJP’s Ray by over 17,000 votes.
After the 2021 Assembly elections, Guha was accused of torturing leaders and workers of other parties, especially the BJP, and of implicating them in false cases.
“The victory margin in the bypoll also led to questions as to whether the election process was fair,” said a Dinhata resident.
In 2022, Guha took up the task of ensuring that Trinamool won all 16 seats of the Dinhata municipality uncontested. Even withinTrinamool, some had questioned why not a single candidate of another party could contest.
While the Left had withdrawn from the polls, the BJP had alleged that its candidates were not allowed to file nominations.
“It was yet another example of Udayan Guha’s absolute political control over Dinhata. Since then, he has been accused of corruption, extortion and tormenting Opposition workers and even common people. However,the Trinamool government didn’t take any step against him,” said another Dinhata resident.
Reacting to Guha’s arrest, Pramanik, the north Bengal development minister who is also from Cooch Behar, said: “A person who repeatedly called his own father a thief has now himself been arrested. Time waits for no one. The man who did not allow the people of Dinhata to live peacefully for years is now facing the law.”
Agnimitra Paul, the municipal affairs and urban development minister, said: “For years, he has violated the law and the Indian Constitution, intimidated and tortured people and consistently made inflammatory remarks. Such a person will have to face legal consequences.”