Mamata’s TMC alleges MLA held in rape, extortion case after he sought to join faction

The Trinamool Congress faction led by former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday alleged that the police arrested one of its MLAs after he sought to return to her camp from the rival group, The Indian Express reported.

Canning Paschim MLA Paresh Ram Das was arrested on Monday at Kolkata airport. The police said that several cases had been registered against him, including charges of extortion and rape.

Kunal Ghosh, a spokesperson for the Mamata Banerjee-led faction, said that the police had taken no action against Das while he was with the rebel group led by Arup Roy, the newspaper reported.

“As long as he was with the [Roy] faction of the Trinamool, the police took no action,” Ghosh was quoted as saying. “He recently wanted to return to Mamata-di’s camp. Only then did the police claim that he ‘wanted to flee’ and therefore ‘must be arrested.’”

Several TMC leaders have been arrested since the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in West Bengal in May, The Hindu reported. They include five former ministers: Bishnupur MLA Dilip Mondal, Sujit Bose, Indranil Sen, Ujjwal Biswas and Udayan Guha.

The TMC has been beset by alleged coercion by the BJP after it lost the Assembly elections to the Hindutva party in May. About 60 out of the TMC’s...

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