BJP leader Rakesh Singh, once accused of leading an attack on a multiplex, was arrested outside the airport soon after he reached Calcutta from Delhi early on Tuesday.

Police said he was picked up in connection with a pending criminal case at Watgunge police station.

Singh said he was a victim of conspiracy for switching over to the BJP from the Congress before the general elections.

A resident of Orphangunge Road in Watgunge, Singh had contested the 2016 Assembly elections from the Port constituency on a Congress ticket. He lost.

Singh joined the BJP as the party’s fortunes took an upward swing.

When Singh was getting close to the BJP, he led an attack on a screen at INOX Quest while The Accidental Prime Minister was being shown. The attackers tried to slice the screen.

In the run-up to the elections in Calcutta, his name cropped up when a video that showed someone resembling him asking BJP workers to attend Amit Shah’s May 15 rally with bamboo sticks went viral.

Singh alleged only a portion of the video was doing the rounds and that it was doctored.

When the rally was passing by Vidyasagar College on Bidhan Sarani, youths wielding sticks barged into the campus and vandalised a bust of Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar.

The police said a number of cases were pending against Singh at various courts, including Alipore and Bankshall. Some of the charges include criminal intimidation, voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons and outraging a woman’s modesty.

Singh was arrested several times and released on bail. Earlier this year, some of his supporters had been charged with attacking cops when they reached his house in Watgunge to arrest him. Two cops were allegedly kept behind locked doors for hours.

Singh had alleged that the police had turned up to arrest him without any warrant.

The police did not specify in which case Singh was arrested on Tuesday.

An officer of Watgunge police station said: “He was wanted in connection with a pending criminal case…. There was specific information about his arrival. Accordingly, we reached the airport. Soon after he stepped out, he was arrested.”

The police said Rakesh had reached late, probably to avoid arrest. Officers alleged he tried to set himself free while being taken to a car outside the airport.

After he was arrested, a post on his Facebook page said he would not “stoop before the Mamata Banerjee government”.

State BJP general secretary Pratap Banerjee said the party would fight the arrest politically. “Such arrests are happening all over the state. BJP workers and leaders are being arrested in false cases. We are discussing how to counter this,” Banerjee said.