Kolkata, July 12 (IANS) Vice-chairman of Purulia Zilla Parishad, Sujoy Banerjee and two others have been arrested on charges of tampering with Annapurna Yojana (social welfare scheme) documents in West Bengal, said the police on Sunday.

The local BJP leadership claimed that not only the Annapurna Yojana, but also the documents of other state government schemes have been tampered with. Based on that complaint, the three accused persons were arrested by Purulia district police on Saturday night.

The BJP alleged that the accused were entering the block office in the dark of night after opening the lock and tampering with the documents on the laptop. The incident took place in the Puncha block area of ​​Purulia district on the night of July 7. The local BJP leadership alleged that vice-president of Puncha Panchayat Samiti Kripasindhu Banerjee and its executive director Samiti Charanpahari Das entered the block office that night on the orders of the vice-chairman of Purulia Zilla Parishad and Trinamool leader Sujoy Banerjee to tamper with the documents.

As soon as the news was received, the local BJP leadership reached the block office and caught them red-handed. The next day (July 8), a complaint was filed at the local police station. Based on the complaint, the police arrested four people that day.

Kripasindhu, Charanpahari and two more employees of the block office were arrested. However, they were granted bail by the court on July 9. After that, the BJP filed another complaint. And, based on that complaint, Sujoy and Kripasindhu were arrested from their homes in Lakhra village on Saturday night. Charanpahari Das, on the other hand, was arrested in Parui village on Saturday night. It is worth noting that Sujoy was the Trinamool candidate from the Purulia constituency in the 2026 Assembly election.

BJP District Vice-President Janapriya Ghosh told local media persons, “We had information that they (the accused) had been engaging in illegal activities under the cover of darkness for quite some time. Local residents caught them red-handed. We suspect they were attempting to remove the names of eligible beneficiaries from the Annapurna Yojana list.”

Commenting on the allegations and the arrests, Trinamool leader and Purulia Zilla Parishad Sabhadhipati Nibedita Mahato said, “I am unaware of the matter; I have just heard about it. I will look into the circumstances behind this incident.”

A district police official stated that the arrested individuals would be produced in court on Sunday.

–IANS

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