Four Congress and as many Trinamul Congress leaders of Mahestala, on the southern fringes of the city, are under police scanner following an “anonymous complaint” alleging that they were linked with Maoists and terror outfit al Qaida.

Among the leaders is Ram Prasad Mondal of the Congress, who had been Opposition leader of Mahestala Municipality from 1992 to 2002.

On March 6, all eight had received a call from officer-in-charge of Mahestala police station C.K. Das Mahapatra, who asked them to appear before an officer of the intelligence wing of South 24-Parganas.

“I went to the police station, where Das Mahapatra asked me to meet district intelligence officer P. Nandi. When I met Nandi, I was told that a complaint had been filed alleging that I had been selling arms to Maoist outfits and al Qaida,” Mondal recalled.

The complaint, written in Bengali, was sent to director-general of police A.B. Vohra, whose office instructed the Criminal Investigation Department to conduct an inquiry.

“When I asked the officer who had sent the letter, he said it was not signed by anyone… I will move court for protection,” Mondal added.

The other “accused”, too, had the same experience at the police station. They were allowed to go but asked not to leave town without the consent of police.

Mondal pointed out that the complainant had referred to some of the “accused” in “very objectionable” terms.

“For instance, Gopal Naskar, a Trinamul worker, has been referred to Dakat Gopal and Kashi Ghosh, another worker of the party, has been called Tupi Kashi, as he wears a cap. Even the letter the police station had issued to us carried the epithets.”

Kashi Ghosh said: “We are all serving society as party workers. Apart from working for political parties, we are in business or service. We do not understand why we are being harassed.”

Santosh Ghosh, a local Trinamul leader, alleged an attempt was afoot to denigrate the Opposition workers, as the election to Mahestala Municipality is round the corner. “We will move court and try to find out who had filed the complaint.”

District superintendent of police S.N. Gupta said anonymous complaints are sometimes sent to senior officers of the force. “We have to carry out a probe if a complaint is received.”