Kolkata, Sep 11 (IANS) The West Bengal Police on Friday arrested Barun Natta alias Bonku, the former vice-chairman of Dum Dum Municipality in North 24 Parganas district, and two of his close associates on charges of extortion.

The other two arrested persons are Nayanashis Das alias Jhony and Sumanta Ghosh alias Laltu. Nayanashis is the son of Parna Das, former Trinamool Congress councillor of ward number 3 of Dum Dum Municipality. The three arrested will be produced before the Barrackpore court later in the day, police sources said.

It is learnt that a written complaint was filed at Dum Dum police station on Thursday evening accusing the three arrested persons of extortion and cheating. The complaint was filed by a real estate promoter, Sujoy Majumder.

An investigation was started on the basis of that complaint. After that, the three, including Natta, were arrested from their respective houses. A case was registered against the arrested trio under multiple sections, including extortion and cheating.

Sources from the state police also informed that, for the sake of investigation, a petition will be filed before the court seeking the custody of the arrested trio for 10 days.

“We want to investigate the extent of the involvement of the three arrested persons in the extortion and whether other persons were also involved in the matter. We are also probing the extent of financial involvement in the matter and also how the money was extorted,” said a state police officer.

It is learnt that Sujoy Majumdar, the real estate promoter, on whose complaint the trio was arrested, also registered a complaint with Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari at the latter’s weekly public programme to hear public grievances. The three were arrested a couple of days after the complaint was registered with the Chief Minister.

The local people from the Dum Dum Municipality area claimed that the complaints of extortion against Natta were nothing new. “While his main targets were the real estate promoters, even common people, including the local vendors and small shop-owners, were not spared by him and his associates,” said a resident of Dum Dum.

–IANS

src/dpb