Two TMC workers held for taking extortion money from shop owner

Police on Friday arrested two Trinamool Congress workers on the charge of taking extortion money from a person in Durgapur.

According to police, Adesh Roy a local Trinamool Congress leader and one of his fellow party workers were arrested. They were interrogated by police officials throughout the day and will soon be produced in the Durgapur sub-divisional court.

Roy, a popular leader in Durgapur’s Benachiti area, allegedly had demanded extortion money from Prabir Samanta, who runs a photocopy shop in the locality. Roy allegedly had gone to the shop to demand Rs 5000 right away. Roy had threatened Samanta with forcibly closing down the shop, unless he paid the extortion money. The other worker, who accompanied Roy, also threatened Samanta and told him to deliver the money to them soon.

Samanta registered a complaint at the Durgapur police police station, where he stated that the two accused threatened him with dire consequences if he did not pay and verbally abused him. He also said that they beat him up in front of his customers. Police said the duo had earlier extorted Rs 3000 from the complainant and they had returned to take more from him.

Sources said Samanta earlier could not gather enough courage to complain to the police. But the recent arrest of Bidhannagar TMC councillor Anindya Chaterjee made him believe that nobody is above the law. Some locals too intervened in the matter and encouraged him to go to police and recount the problem in detail.

Anindya Chatterjee, the councillor of ward number 41 of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, was recently arrested for alleged involvement in a syndicate and an extortion racket in the area. 

Bidhannagar North police station officials arrested him on a complaint lodged by a Salt Lake businessman, who was allegedly demanded to pay Rs 12 lakh ever since he started constructing a building.