Many farmers near the Teesta riverbank in the Rajganj block of Jalpaiguri district have begun reclaiming agricultural land that they alleged was forcibly occupied for years by Trinamool Congress leader Krishna Das and his associates.

On Friday, residents of Nathuar Char took back possession of land that had allegedly remained under the control of Krishna and his supporters for years.

The stretch from Rangdhamali-Kesto More to Gaurikon, Nathuar Char, and Takimari Char, which are on the right bank of the Teesta and on the outskirts of Jalpaiguri, has around 50,000 bighas of fertile agricultural land. The farmers cultivate paddy, potatoes, peanuts, maize, and seasonal vegetables on this land.

The farmers said that since 2022, Krishna and his associates had been intimidating them and forcibly occupying hundreds of bighas of farmland.

While some of the seized land was handed over to land mafias in exchange for money, other portions were cultivated by Krishna’s supporters, who would make profits from the harvests despite not owning the land.

Dibakar Roy, a farmer in Nathuar Char, said that two bighas of his six-bigha farmland were occupied by Ranjit Das, an associate of Krishna.

“Krishna Das initially demanded ₹1 lakh from me to return the land, and later demanded another ₹3 lakh. As I could not pay, his supporters planted party flags on the land and took control of it. I had even written to the then chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, seeking intervention, but no action was taken,” said Dibakar.

“Today, I finally reclaimed my two bighas of land,” he added.

Krishna, who had contested on Trinamool’s ticket from the Jalpaiguri Assembly seat this year, lost to the BJP candidate. Soon after the results were announced, he went into hiding as he was accused of attacking BJP workers. The police are in search of him.

Another farmer, Bhagirath Das, said he had been cultivating 16 bighas of land in the same area for over 20 years before Krishna and his supporters expropriated it in 2023.

“Out of fear of Krishna’s men, I could not even enter my plot in the past three years. Today, I regained possession of the plot,” he said.

According to residents, nearly 150 farmers reclaimed land on Friday that they said had been grabbed by Krishna and his supporters.

The farmers also alleged that the Trinamool leader and his accomplices would extort money from residents on the pretext of arranging land ownership documents and pattas (secured land tenures).

During the process of reclaiming the land, the farmers named Krsihna’s some associates — Piyush Das, Ranjit Das, Ratan Das and Bibhas Das.

“All of them used to work as a syndicate to grab land from the farmers like us,” said one of them.

Ranjit, who is a close associate of Krishna, was not found at his home. “My father has gone out on some errand. The allegations made against him are baseless,” said Subodh, his son.