Islampur, Dec. 20: Trinamul Congress MLA Chowdhury Abdul Karim was arrested today for alleged involvement in several cases, some dating 25 years ago.

Karim, who is the only Trinamul MLA from north Bengal, was granted bail by subdivisional judicial magistrate Sunirmal Datta.

A large police force, led by subdivisional police officer Ujjal Bhowmick arrived at the MLA?s residence at Melamath and arrested him at 10.30 am. The crackdown follows the Election Commissioner?s directive to track down those who have arrest warrants pending against them.

After his arrest, the 70-year-old Karim said: ?This is nothing but a plot hatched by the police and the CPM to implicate me in false charges.?

?I have been an MLA from this constituency for eight terms and I fail to understand why I was declared an absconder. I am not an extremist and I do not need to go underground,? the MLA said.

He said he had spent a month behind bars in 2001. ?Why did the police not mention these cases before the court at that time? The police are out to tarnish my image,? he said.

The MLA?s lawyers said he was implicated in six cases dating back to 1987 and 1988. The charges range from vandalising government property to preventing toll collection at a regulated market in Yousoufganj. Papers of another case, filed in Patna in 1980, could not be furnished by the prosecution.