Former West Bengal minister and TMC leader Udayan Guha was arrested on Wednesday by the police from North Bengal's Cooch Behar district. Guha has been arrested in connection with a case lodged at the Dinhata Police Station numbered Case No. 419/26. The FIR was lodged on June 11 under Sections 406, 409 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) over allegations of taking "cut money" from people availing central government schemes.
The allegations pertain to cheating and irregularities dating back to 2016, involving accusations of collecting "cut money" from beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).
Interestingly, last year in September, Suvendu Adhikari, the then leader of the Opposition in the Bengal assembly, had accused the state police of attempting to shield North Bengal Development Minister Udayan Guha from being implicated in the case related to the alleged attack on his convoy in Cooch Behar district last month.
In support of his allegation, Adhikari referred to an order passed by the Jalpaiguri Circuit Bench of the Calcutta High Court on Monday, directing the Inspector General of Police to submit an affidavit by September 10.
The court asked the police to clarify whether the FIR lodged by Adhikari, in which he named Udayan Guha as the prime accused, and the suo motu FIR registered by the police were identical in nature, or whether Adhikari's complaint pointed to a "larger conspiracy."
Adhikari had approached the High Court through a writ petition, alleging that the police ignored his complaint and instead proceeded with an investigation based on its own FIR, which does not name the minister as an accused.
"I will not let criminals get away so easily," Adhikari said. "Based on my writ petition, a detailed hearing was held before Justice Aniruddha Roy, who questioned the North Bengal IG on why the police did not register an FIR based on my complaint and instead claimed that its suo motu complaint and my complaint were the same."
