Mukul Roy's brother-in-law arrested

According to a senior police official of the North 24-Parganas who spoke on condition of anonymity said the arrested person, Srijon Roy, was arrested from Delhi and will be brought to Kolkata soon. He informed that Srijon was nabbed in connection with complaints lodged in 2012 against him in more than one police station in the North 24-Parganas for taking Rs 3 lakh each from a few people who were promised jobs in the Railways. Mukul Roy was the Railway minister from March 20 till September 21, 2012, when the Trinamool Congress decided to walk out of the UPA II government at the Centre.

The move will be of a great discomfiture for Mukul Roy who is now the nodal leader of the BJP in the upcoming Panchayat elections in the state.

Police sources informed that Mukul Roy's name also figures in the complaints.

Police have slapped several charges under IPC Sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), 472 (making or possessing counterfeit seal) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) against Srijon Roy. He was produced in a court in Barasat on Saturday after being brought to the city on transit remand and was sent to 12-day police custody.

Mukul Roy, who is presently in Siliguri, lashed out at the police for arresting his brother-in-law.

"It is a conspiracy against me. If there is an allegation of extorting money promising Railway jobs, it should have been investigated by the CBI," he said.

Mukul Roy had been the general secretary of Trinamool Congress for a number of years before he joined the BJP in November 2017.