A gram panchayat member of the Trinamool Congress was arrested in Malda district on Wednesday for allegedly abducting a homemaker.

Rathin Sarkar, who is in his late thirties, was arrested from his house at Panchanandapur under the jurisdiction of Mothabari police station in Kaliachak 2 block.

“There was a complaint of abduction against the accused. He was arrested and the abducted woman has been rescued,” said a senior police officer.

Sources said in 2023, Sarkar was elected as a member of Panchanandapur 2 panchayat as a TMC candidate.

While on way to the court, he denied the charge. It was a misunderstanding between him and the woman who filed the complaint, Sarkar claimed.

The court sent him to judicial custody till February 26.

Sources said on Tuesday, the woman had filed the complaint at the Mothabari police station, alleging that Sarkar had initially allured her and then abducted her.

Ajay Ganguly, the vice-president of Malda south (organisational) district of the BJP, said: “Criminals, anti-socials and lawbreakers are either elected representatives of Trinamool or are under the shelter of the state’s ruling party. This incident has again proved it.”

Subhamay Bose, a district vice-president of Trinamool, said the TMC never shielded criminals.

“In the recent past,some Trinamool Congress leaders and workers have been arrested for involvement in crimes. We never support such people or shield them,” he said.