Malda, Sept. 8: Police raided the house of a Trinamul leader in the Naoda-Jadupur area of Kaliachak last night and allegedly seized five long-barrelled guns, a 9mm pistol and 350 rounds of live ammunition.

Sarjen Sheikh, 36, the joint anchal president of Trinamul in the Naoda-Jadupur area, was arrested during the raid around 7pm yesterday, according to police sources. He was produced in the court of the chief judicial magistrate here today and remanded in police custody for three days.

The superintendent of police, Malda, Prasun Banerjee, said the law enforcers had been on the lookout for Sarjen. "However, we arrested him and recovered five rifles, a 9mm pistol and 350 rounds of live ammunition last night."

The district Trinamul leadership has claimed that Sarjen had nothing to do with the party. However, Trinamul insiders admitted that the arrested man had been a joint anchal president since 2012.

Sources in Kaliachak police station said there were two cases of abduction pending against Sarjen. He was also the right hand man of Bakul Sheikh, an influential Trinamul leader in Kaliachak, around 30km from here.

According to the police, there were two murders in Kaliachak in a turf war between two groups of criminals in the past one month. "We had instructions from our higher ups in Calcutta that these criminals should be arrested irrespective of their political affiliation. We were also asked to arrest Bakul Sheikh and his henchmen in connection with the turf war," a police source said.

Moazzem Hossain, the Trinamul Malda district president, said Bakul Sheikh, who was the anchal president of Trinamul in the Naoda-Jadupur area, had been expelled from the party. "Bakul Sheikh was expelled from Trinamul for anti-party activities as per instructions from the high command on Saturday. Sarjen Sheikh has nothing to do with our party," Hossain said.

The police chief said they were also looking for Bakul.

The Congress and the CPM alleged that the arrest of Sarjen showed the criminal nature of Trinamul.