First Sachin Singh, then Arijit Das Thakur. The Kolkata Police on Tuesday arrested two Trinamool Congress (TMC) Councillors on charges of extortion. The two councillors represent Wards 106 and 36 respectively of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.
On Tuesday afternoon, when police personnel from the Narkeldanga police station went to arrest Singh, locals gathered in front of his house and staged a protest. The residents alleged Singh's involvement in threatening and beating up opponents.
According to several complaints, Singh had been allegedly extorting money from parking operators and other establishments in the area. Allegations also include demanding kickbacks in connection with several civic and development projects.
Singh is also accused of post-poll violence, after the 2021 state Assembly election results were declared, the police sources told the news agency IANS. In 2021, Singh won the KMC election on a Trinamool Congress ticket for the first time.
"A case was registered on the basis of specific complaints alleging extortion, cheating and unlawful collection of money. Following a preliminary inquiry and collection of evidence, the accused councillor was arrested. Investigation is underway, and all aspects of the allegations are being examined," a senior Kolkata Police officer told PTI.
Singh will be produced before the Sealdah court in the extortion case.
Later in the day, the police arrested Arijit Das Thakur. He too has been accused of intimidating and extorting money from local real estate developers and shopkeepers.
The arrests come amid the newly elected Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) crackdown on corruption. Ever since the BJP-led government came into power in Bengal, it has started re-opening all previous allegations against TMC leaders.
In the last few weeks, TMC councillors from other municipal corporations have also been arrested.
Earlier in the day, Tarun Chakraborty, a TMC councillor of Ward 87 of Asansol Municipal Corporation in West Burdwan district, was arrested on charges of hoarding relief packages in his house. The police recovered the relief items meant for poor people in the area from Chakraborty's house on Tuesday.
Chakraborty is also accused of being involved in illegal sand trading, extortion, and extorting money in the name of providing financial assistance to the poor for housing projects.
On May 23, Sudip Polley, a TMC councillor of KMC Ward 123, was also arrested on allegations of extorting several lakh rupees. When he was being produced before a court in Alipore, people gathered and raised slogans against him and hurled eggs and shoes.
Political tension within the TMC has intensified since several elected legislators have parted ways from the party. Now the jolt to TMC councillors shows that the house is not in order.
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