The CBI on Friday arrested TMC leader and chairman of Halisahar Municipality Raju Sahani for his alleged role in a ponzi scheme that duped people of lakhs of rupees, an agency official said.

A team of CBI officers conducted raids at Sahani's residences in Halisahar, on the city outskirts, and New Town here and grilled him for hours in connection with its probe into Bardhaman Sanmarg Welfare Trust ponzi scheme, he said.

Nearly Rs 80 lakh in cash was recovered from the New Town residence, and a country-made pistol from his Halisahar home, he stated.

"We conducted search operations at TMC leader Raju Sahani's homes and found several important documents. Our officers also questioned him. All through he was non-cooperative. Sahani was subsequently arrested," the official said.

He also stated that some of the documents indicate that Sahani had a bank account in Thailand.

"Hopefully, we will unearth more information after questioning him," the official added.

An FIR in connection with the scheme was lodged by the CBI's Economic Offences Unit in 2018.

The Supreme Court had in May 2014 directed the CBI to take over the probes of all ponzi chit fund schemes that duped lakh of depositors in Bengal and neighbouring Odisha.