West Bengal: ex-TMC MLA arrested in extortion case

In yet another setback for the pro-Mamata Trinamool Congress, a former MLA of the party and a Mamata Banerjee loyalist, Ajit Maity, was arrested from his residence near Kharagpur on Friday.

He was arrested in connection with an extortion case, police said. Maity was an MLA from Pingla seat in West Midnapore.

The former MLA was picked up from his residence and taken to the Debra Police Station, sources said. No one commented further, though inside sources said his arrest was linked to the arrest of Sumit Roy, the former PA of Mamata TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee. Roy was arrested in connection with a land-grab case in Jhargram.  

BJP leader Gobinda Das lodged a complaint against Maity at the Pingla police station on September 23, based on which the arrest was made, police said. Das alleged that in 2016, when he was the TMC president of the Jamna area in the Pingla-II block, Maity took Rs 15 lakh from him on the promise of making him the party’s block president.

He alleged that he was not given the post, and when he asked for a refund, Maity harassed him. Maity is currently the vice-chairperson of the Paschim Medinipur Zilla Parishad, and had served as the TMC’s district president for several years.

He was elected from Pingla in the 2021 Assembly elections. The TMC fielded him again from the seat in the Assembly elections held earlier this year, but he lost to BJP candidate Swagata Manna by more than 18,000 votes.