Kolkata, 05 June (H.S.) : A prominent Trinamool Congress leader, Shankar Chakraborty, has been arrested by police in West Bengal’s Bankura district over allegations of illegal occupation of land belonging to Bidhan Chandra Agricultural University, officials said on Thursday.
According to police sources, the accused is alleged to have gradually encroached upon nearly 29 acres of land of the university’s old campus in Chhatna after it was shifted to Shushunia in 2018.
Investigators further said that poultry farming, cultivation activities, and other private use developments were being carried out on the encroached land.
The matter escalated on Thursday after allegations surfaced that government property and materials were being loaded onto trucks and transported elsewhere from the campus area. Following this, Chhatna MLA Satyaranjan Mukhopadhyay visited the site, and the university dean subsequently lodged a written complaint at Chhatna police station.
Based on the complaint, police launched an investigation and arrested Shankar Chakraborty on Thursday night. He has been booked under multiple sections, including illegal trespass on government property, breach of trust, theft, cheating, criminal intimidation, and damage to property.
The accused was produced before a court on Friday, which remanded him to two days of police custody for further interrogation.
Chakraborty has denied all allegations, claiming he is being framed due to political vendetta. Local TMC leaders have also claimed that agricultural training activities were conducted on the land with university permission and that crops grown on the premises were supplied back to the institution.
Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh
