Legal troubles for the Trinamool Congress (TMC) continued to mount on Wednesday with the state police arresting former Bengal minister Udayan Guha and registering two fresh corruption cases against TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
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The two fresh FIRs have been filed against Abhishek on complaints by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Abhijit Das, who unsuccessfully contested from the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha seat in 2014 and 2024.
Guha, who was picked up from his house on Wednesday morning and placed under arrest, is the fourth TMC ex-minister to be arrested after the Suvendu Adhikari-led government came to power. Earlier Sujit Bose, Ujjwal Biswas and Dilip Mondal were arrested by the police and the Enforcement Directorate on charges of cheating, extortion and threatening people.
“Guha has been arrested from Kolkata by officers from Dinhata police station in connection with a cheating case. He is being brought to Cooch Behar for further investigation,” said a senior police officer from Cooch Behar.
Guha did not to respond to questions while being taken to Cooch Behar.
A Dinhata-based businessman lodged a complaint against Guha, alleging that the former North Bengal development minister had collected money from several people to set up a facility for newborns at a sub-divisional hospital. The money was allegedly never used.
“He demanded ₹50,000 from me. After some negotiation the amount was reduced to ₹25,000. But I was given a receipt of ₹10,000 only. I was also threatened when I demanded the receipt for the full amount I had paid,” Rupam Saha, the complainant, said in Dinhata.
Meanwhile, the two FIRs registered against Abhishek is in connection with the alleged cheating of relief funds after Cyclone Amphan in May 2020 and the alleged illegal sale of soil excavated from government land. One case, registered at the Kalitala–Asuti police station, relates to the alleged illegal excavation of soil from government land near Joka on the southwestern fringes of Kolkata. The second case was registered at the Bishnupur police station in connection with the alleged siphoning of relief funds.
Banerjee was questioned by the state police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on June 14 and June 16 in connection with two separate cases related to alleged inflammatory speeches and an alleged signature forgery case. On June 15, he was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with alleged irregularities in the recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff in state-run schools.
While Abhishek could not be contacted, there was no response from the TMC either till around 5 pm.
