Bengal Sees Raids and Arrests of Trinamool Congress Leaders Amid Fraud and Extortion Allegations

Bengal has seen a spate of raids and arrests of leaders associated with the Trinamool Congress on charges of fraud and extortion. Public anger was openly visible on the streets in two cases reported from Hooghly and Kolkata. Former panchayat samiti president Gunadhar Khada in Arambagh, Hooghly, is accused of extorting lakhs of rupees from dozens of people on the pretext of government jobs. Despite the passage of years, no one got a job or the money was returned. On Friday, the victims'families and BJP workers protested outside his office. Gunadhar was given a written apology and eggs were also hurled at him during the protest. The police had to intervene and detain him. On his way to the police station, he claimed that he had handed over the recovered money to former youth Trinamool leader Santanu Banerjee. On the other hand, a case of fraud has been registered against Trinamool councillor Sushanta Ghosh and four of his associates in Kolkata's Anandpur police station. It is alleged that one person was promised seven lakh rupees in the name of providing a shop on the footpath, but no clues were found from the alleged network of corruption and massive corruption in these cases.