Kolkata, June 30 (IANS) The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday arrested Shakir Ali, a Trinamool Congress councillor and husband of former party MP Aparupa Poddar, in connection with a violence case linked to a Ram Navami procession in 2023, officials said.

According to the central investigation agency, a case was registered regarding a disturbance during the Ram Navami procession in Rishra of Hooghly district in 2023. The case was subsequently handed over to the NIA.

Acting on this, the NIA sleuths on Tuesday arrested the former Trinamool MP’s husband from his Rishra residence.

Shakir is the Trinamool councillor for Ward No. 4 in Rishra Municipality. On Tuesday, the NIA, accompanied by CRPF personnel, raided his residence in Rishra. Shakir was at home at the time.

A crowd gathered outside the former MP’s house after the arrival of the NIA officials. Shortly thereafter, news emerged that Shakir had been arrested. The BJP had alleged that the violence during Ram Navami in Rishra had occurred on the instigation of Councillor Shakir Ali.

The Trinamool Congress denied a ticket to two-time MP Aparupa Poddar for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. She had openly expressed her dissatisfaction regarding this, claiming she was denied the ticket because she did not possess a large amount of money. However, she stated that she would remain with Mamata Banerjee as an ordinary Trinamool worker. Aparupa’s husband, Shakir Ali, meanwhile, is a long-serving Trinamool councillor.

In another incident, the Serampore police on Tuesday arrested Sudarshan Bar, an influential member of the Piyarapur Gram Panchayat and a close associate of Serampore Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee.

Champdani BJP MLA Dilip Singh has alleged that Sudarshan faces various charges, including assaulting party workers, forcibly seizing land, corruption within the panchayat, and extortion related to factory construction along National Highway 19.

The arrested individual is set to be produced before the Serampore court later in the day.

–IANS

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