Police in North Dinajpur and South Dinajpur districts arrested two Trinamool Congress leaders on Monday night on charges of collecting money from youths after promising them government jobs.

The two are Majibur Rahman alias Dulal, a vice-president of the Hemtabad block committee of Trinamool in North Dinajpur, and Mofizuddin Mia, a district general secretary of the party in South Dinajpur.

Rahman and Mia were known as close associates of former ministers Satyajit Barman and Biplab Mitra, respectively.

Sources said a team from the Hemtabad police station arrested Rahman from Siliguri on Monday night. He was accused of collecting nearly ₹8.5 lakh from different people by promising jobs in state government departments.

“A complaint was filed against him at the Hemtabad police station in September 2023, alleging cheating and extortion. But the police did not arrest him then,” said a BJP leader in North Dinajpur district.

On Tuesday, Rahman was produced in a court, which remanded him in police custody for three days.

In South Dinajpur, Mofizuddin was arrested for his involvement in the alleged collection of large sums of money from unemployed youths on the promise of posting them as constables in the police.

Pomiruddin Mia, one of his associates from the Gangarampur-Fulbari area, was also arrested in the same case by the Gangarampur police.

In November last year, a written complaint was lodged at the Gangarampur police station, alleging that civic volunteer Subhash Biswas had taken ₹9 lakh and the original documents of his educational qualifications from a youth in exchange for a job as a constable. Biswas was arrested then.

The investigators claimed that Mia’s name surfaced during the probe as a key link in the racket. He was subsequently arrested in Kumarganj during a special operation conducted by South Dinajpur district police on Monday evening.

A court on Tuesday remanded Mia in police custody for eight days.

South Dinajpur district Trinamool president Subhash Bhowal said the reason for the arrest was still unclear and alleged that leaders of his party were being selectively targeted.

“However, if anyone is proven guilty, the party would take its own steps,” he said.

Swarup Chowdhury, the BJP district president, on the other hand, alleged that unemployed youths had been cheated for years in the name of jobs. “We expect that names of some more influential persons will surface in future,” said Chowdhury.

Several Trinammol leaders have been arrested across north Bengal with the change of power in the state.