Kolkata: Former Bidhannagar councillor Debraj Chakraborty, once among the closest aides of Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, was arrested by the West Bengal STF in Purulia on Wednesday evening in connection with cases of extortion, land grabbing and possession of disproportionate assets.There were also allegations that he had suppressed information in the election affidavits of his wife, Aditi Munshi, sources said. He is also accused in a 2021 post-poll violence case. He is the sixth Bidhannagar councillor to be arrested since the change in regime.Police said Chakraborty, who had allegedly been evading investigators for several days, was tracked through his mobile tower location and arrested from a hideout near the Bengal-Jharkhand border. He is being brought back to Kolkata.Investigators are probing allegations that Chakraborty amassed assets disproportionate to his known sources of income and concealed them in election disclosures. They are also examining his alleged role in a Rs 100-crore benami property transfer case. His name had also figured in the recruitment scam.“The case involves allegations of organised crime, including coercive land deals, extortion, criminal intimidation, property undervaluation, concealment of assets, suspicious financial transactions through DC Global, and false or incomplete disclosures in co-accused Aditi Munshi’s election affidavit. The investigation has uncovered substantial oral and documentary evidence pointing to an organised crime syndicate,” a senior police officer said.Chakraborty’s arrest came a week after the Calcutta HC granted anticipatory bail to his wife, former Rajarhat-Gopalpur MLA Aditi Munshi, in the disproportionate assets case but denied him the same relief. Justice Jay Sengupta noted that Munshi has a four-month-old child while directing her to cooperate with the investigation.Appearing for the state, additional advocate general Rajdeep Mazumder alleged that the couple concealed assets and furnished false information in their election affidavits. He told the court they owned assets worth over Rs 100 crore across more than 90 properties, including 19 in Chakraborty’s name and three in Munshi’s. The state also cited allegations of land grabbing, referring to a 5-acre plot in Kalimpong allegedly held in a relative’s name and sold shortly before the election.Reacting to the arrest, BJP MLA Tarunjyoti Tiwari alleged that Chakraborty was linked to several controversies, including the alleged recruitment scam and the murder of a BJP worker. “He sold properties worth around Rs 1,300 crore in March this year but has not disclosed the proceeds. I have submitted multiple documents on his disproportionate assets to the police,” Tiwari said.
