Police arrest Trinamool MLA's son on charges of threatening political workers

Kolkata, May 18 (IANS) Even as the police are searching for Trinamool Congress Bishnupur MLA Dilip Mandal on charges of making threatening remarks about the opposition, his son, Arghya Mandal, and four others have been arrested, said officials on Monday.

According to a senior officer of the Diamond Harbour district police, Arghya has been arrested with firearms. He is accused of creating unrest in the area.

On Sunday night, the Special Task Force (STF) of West Bengal Police and Diamond Harbour District Police officers launched a joint operation to search for the MLA's son. Five people, including Arghya, were arrested from the Bakkhali-Fraserganj area near the Bay of Bengal. Police also said that the arrested people are being interrogated. It is being investigated whether anyone else is involved in the incident.

Dilip Mandal is a Trinamool MLA from Bishnupur in the South 24 Parganas district. Recently, a purported video of him went viral on social media. Allegedly, in the video, Dilip made threatening comments to the workers and supporters of another party.

Subsequently, a complaint was filed against the MLA at the police station over the incident. In the wake of that complaint, the police raided the Trinamool MLA's house on Thursday. The central forces' jawans also reached the house. However, Dilip was not at home at the time. After a long operation, the officials left Dilip's house by 4 p.m.

It is learned that the MLA has two houses in the Pailan area. The police raided both houses. One of the houses, built over a large area, has a swimming pool. The courtyard is decorated in a resort-like style with fanciful statues, a large fountain and a cave-like structure. Since the discovery of such a lavish house of the Trinamool MLA, questions were raised on how he made such a fortune as a public representative. Since then, the police have been looking for the Trinamool Congress leader.