A Trinamool leader, who is also a private tutor in Nadia’s Birnagar, was arrested on Sunday night for allegedly raping a Class VII student at his coaching centre on July 2 evening.

Police have begun a probe against the accused Dipankar Sarkar, 35, the president of Trinamool’s Birnagar town unit of the SC/ST committee, under the relevant sections of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, 2012.

Sarkar was produced before the additional chief judicial magistrate’s court in Ranaghat, which remanded him for 10 days in police custody.

According to the complaint lodged by the 13-year-old girl’s mother with Taherpur police, the incident occurred at the Trinamool leader’s private coaching centre on July 2 evening, but the family took four days to overcome the threat and trauma to go to the police for justice.

Acting on the complaint, which came in the backdrop of widespread outrage over the Kasba law college rape case, the police arrested accused Sarkar on Sunday night and charged him under the Pocso Act.

The police and the victim’s family said the girl was a student of Sarkar at his coaching centre. According to the mother, on July 2, after her tuition was over, Sarkar asked her to stay back while asking other students to leave. Then, he raped her.

“My daughter had been taking private tuition from Dipankar sir for the last three years. We thought he was like a father figure to her. We never imagined he could commit such a crime,” said the girl’s mother.

On Monday, a medical examination of the girl was conducted. She was also taken to court where she recorded her statement before a magistrate.

“Based on the complaint and primary facie evidence, the accused has been arrested. Since the victim is a minor, the case has been lodged under the Pocso Act and a proper investigation has also begun,” a senior police officer of Ranaghat police district said.

Following his arrest, the district unit of Trinamool SC/ST Cell sacked Sarkar.

Trinamool’s Ranaghat organisational committee president Debasish Ganguly said: “Sarkar was summarily sacked from the organisation once the police arrested him. The law must take its own course.”