Extortion: Man held on pretext of arranging meet with Abhishek

Kolkata: A man from New Town area was arrested on Thursday for allegedly extorting money from a businessman on the pretext of solving an issue and arranging a meeting with Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Abhishek Banerjee.

The accused identified as Kaushik Sarkar allegedly forged the letterhead of Banerjee using which he used to convince people and demand money. Sources said, recently a businessman lodged a complaint at the Shakespeare Sarani Police Station against Sarkar alleging that the accused took a huge amount of money from him on the pretext of solving an issue and arranging a meeting with the MP. The businessman was reportedly called in front of Banerjee’s office located on Camac Street but later told him that the MP is not there.

During the probe, police came to know that Sarkar, reportedly a Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader, demanded money from several persons using the same modus operandi. Accordingly, on Thursday night, he was picked up by the cops of Shakespeare Sarani Police Station from Chinar Park area. It is alleged that Sarkar is involved in many other fraudulent activities as well. Sarkar also allegedly used to claim that he has several contacts in both the state and Centre using which he can solve any problem.

Meanwhile, Tapas Chatterjee, MLA of Rajarhat-New Town said that he is unaware about any such leader in the New Town area. He said, “I saw him in a few rallies and meetings that too several years back. I came to know about some illegal activities related to HIDCO land involving Sarkar. Immediately, I informed the HIDCO authority about it. His gestures were a bit fishy.”