Kolkata, Sept 25 Former TMC MLA Ajit Maity was arrested on Friday in connection with an extortion case in West Bengal’s Paschim Medinipur district, police said.
Maity, who was the MLA of Pingla, was arrested from his residence near the Madpur station in the early hours, they said.
“He was subsequently taken to the Debra police station, where he is currently being kept,” a police officer said.
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.
Amid the split in the party, Maity remained with the Mamata Banerjee-led faction, which appointed him the president of the Ghatal organisational district committee.
Locals claimed that Maity had not been seen much in the area since the assembly election results were declared in May.
(PTI News)
