KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress leader Sabyasachi Dutta was arrested early on Tuesday from West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district on charges of extortion and criminal intimidation, police said.
Dutta, the former chairman of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC), was apprehended from his residence in Raigachi, a senior police officer said.
According to police, the arrest followed a complaint filed by a businessman who alleged that the former Bidhannagar mayor had demanded more than Rs 1 crore from him in 2018. Based on the complaint, an FIR was registered and Dutta was subsequently arrested.
“If they can prove that I took even one rupee, I am ready to be hanged,” Dutta told reporters while being taken for a medical examination following his arrest.
Before being formally arrested, he was questioned by officers at Bidhannagar police station, where he was being held.
The TMC leader is scheduled to be produced before the Bidhannagar sub-divisional court on Tuesday.
As he was being taken to court, eggs and tomatoes were hurled at him by protesters.
Dutta had unsuccessfully contested the Barasat seat in the 2026 Assembly elections.
He had joined the BJP in 2019 before returning to the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress a couple of years later.
His arrest comes shortly after former Bidhannagar MLA and TMC minister Sujit Bose was jailed by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with an alleged civic body recruitment scam.
Reacting to the development, state minister Sharadwat Mukherjee said, “The pillars of corruption and arrogance are being arrested one by one.”
Congratulating the Bidhannagar Police for their swift action, he added that those involved in extortion during the TMC era were being apprehended on a “war footing”.
(With inputs from PTI)