In a significant development, former TMC MLA Sanat Dey was on Saturday arrested in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district over allegations of extortion and post-poll violence, police said. Police searched for him and arrested him at a home in the Duttapukur area of North 24 Parganas district.
Why was the arrest made?
Sanat Dey, the former MLA of Naihati, is arrested as he is accused of extortion, land grabbing and attacks on BJP workers following the 2021 assembly elections, police added. Following his arrest, BJP workers and supporters reached the Naihati police station and raised slogans of "thief, thief" as he was taken away in a vehicle.]
It should be noted that Sanat Deyhad won the Naihati seat in a bypoll in 2024 after Partha Bhowmik vacated the seat on his election to the Lok Sabha from the Barrackpore constituency. Earlier, State Labour Minister Arjun Singh had demanded stringent punishment for Dey, alleging that the people of Naihati would not forgive him for the “atrocities” he committed.
Sanat Dey has been facing multiple criminal allegations for long time
Sanat Dey, the former MLA of Naihati, has been facing multiple criminal allegations for a long time. Apart from extortion and land grabbing charges, he has also been accused in connection with the post-poll violence following the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections.
Local residents earlier alleged that Dey operated a reign of terror across the Naihati region and issued threats prior to election results. In June this year, Dey had faced severe public wrath when local residents hurled eggs at him and raised “chor, chor” (thief, thief) slogans while he was heading to a local party office.
Ahead of the Saturday’s arrest, police had raided Dey’s residence and pharmacy, but he was untraceable at the time. After his arrest in Duttapukur today, police are preparing to produce him before the Barrackpore Court.
Sanat had lost in the recent assembly elections
Sanat won the by-election for this seat. When the Trinamool Congress government lost power in Bengal and the BJP came to power, public anger was directed at TMC representatives facing criminal charges. The public publicly insulted and pelted eggs at several TMC leaders. Sanat was one of those leaders who faced public anger.
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