Former Trinamool cabinet minister held for hoarding relief materials

Former West Bengal Correctional Services Minister Ujjal Biswas was arrested in Krishnanagar on charges of hoarding government relief materials, sparking local protests. His arrest follows a series of corruption cases against Trinamool Congress leaders.

Kolkata: Ujjal Biswas, the former West Bengal Correctional Services Minister in the previous Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress cabinet, was arrested on Tuesday night on charges of illegally hoarding state government relief materials.

Biswas is the second former minister in the previous cabinet to be arrested under corruption charges after former West Bengal Fire Services Minister Sujit Bose, who was arrested last month by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the multi-crore cash-for-municipalities job case.

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Biswas, a three-time Trinamool legislator from Krishnanagar (Dakshin) assembly constituency in Nadia district from 2011 to 2026, was defeated in the recently concluded West Bengal assembly polls by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Sadhan Ghosh by a margin of over 27,000 votes.

Tension flared earlier in the day after relief materials were recovered from his residence in Krishnanagar. Local people claimed that government relief materials, especially tarpaulin sheets, had been stored at Biswas’s residence for quite some time.

By late Tuesday evening, crowds assembled in front of his residence, protesting and shouting slogans. Police from the local station arrived at the scene, detained Biswas, and took him to the station. After about an hour of interrogation, he was arrested.

As he was brought out of his residence, locals shouted slogans calling him a “thief.” Biswas, however, has denied the charges.

Earlier, Trinamool Congress councillor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) Sushmita Bhattacharya of ward number 63 was also arrested over alleged corruption charges.

Her husband, Salil Chatterjee, was also arrested. Officers of the Watgunge police station arrested them on charges of extortion. With this, the total number of Trinamool councillors in KMC arrested over various charges rose to nine.

According to the police, a complaint was filed with the said police station on June 5 against Sushmita and Salil. Based on that complaint, the police registered an FIR. It is alleged that Sushmita had extorted Rs 30 lakh from an elderly man. In addition, there have been allegations of threatening the man.

After the change of government in the state, small and big leaders of Trinamool are facing public anger. Some are accused of extortion, while others allegedly hoarded government relief in their homes. Trinamool leaders are also being arrested on past allegations. The police are taking action on almost all the allegations, and raids have started across the state as part of the investigation.

The police have already arrested several Trinamool councillors in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. Last Saturday night, the police arrested Bappaditya Dasgupta from Patuli on charges of extortion.