Trinamool Congress leader and immediate past chairman of the Dinhata municipality, Gaurishankar Maheshwari, who was arrested late on Sunday night, was produced in court on Monday.

Maheshwari, arrested in connection with a fake building plan scam that surfaced at the civic body, was produced in the Dinhata subdivisional court. The court heard the case and ordered three days in police custody for him.

Maheswari claimed he had been “framed as part of a political conspiracy”.

Police had arrested Moumita Bhattacharya, a Group D employee of the municipality and a Trinamool leader, in connection with the same case on Saturday evening. There are allegations that both Maheshwari and Bhattacharya were involved in approving forged building plans.

Chadrashekhar Roy Basunia, the Trinamool councillor of Mathabhanga municipality in Cooch Behar, was arrested on Sunday night on charges of extortion and 2021 post-poll violence.

On Monday, Abdul Kader Haque, the Trinamool president of Cooch Behar-I-B block, was arrested from the Guriahati-II panchayat area on multiple charges, including attacks on Opposition workers, vandalism, looting and intimidation. Haque was later produced in a local court, which remanded him for five days in police custody.

He had been under scrutiny for a long time, police sources said.

Ever since the BJP government has been formed in the state, Cooch Behar district police have stepped up action in several old cases linked to political violence.

Last week, Subhankar Dey, the Trinamool president of Cooch Behar-II block, was arrested in connection with similar allegations.

Former Trinamool MLA of Dinhata, Udayan Guha, who left town with his family after the May 4 results, has not yet returned.

Guha lost to the BJP's Ajay Roy.

In Raiganj, North Dinajpur, Trinamool youth leader Raju Ghosh aka Raj, was arrested from his residence on Monday with an illegal firearm.

The police are trying to determine the purpose for which the weapon was being kept.

Police sources said Raju was a close associate of a former Trinamool MLA but did not name the legislator.

Local BJP leaders in both districts claimed that the law was finally taking its course and acting on longstanding complaints.

Local Trinamool leaders, on the other hand, alleged that old cases were being revived out of political vendetta after the change of guard.