I know I’m TMC’s prime target: Arjun SinghBarrackpore Police on Wednesday searched the residence of BJP MP Arjun Singh in North 24 Parganas district in connection with alleged misappropriation of funds amounting to Rs 12 crore .
Accusing the ruling TMC of harassing him, Singh said that similar more incidents would follow.
“This is not the first time. Even earlier, they had come to search my house without any document. I did not allow them then. Now, the same people have come with a court order. I know that I am the TMC’s prime target. It has named me in 93 cases,” the Barrackpore MP said.
Police claimed that they had a court order to search his house in connection with a cheating and corruption case involving nearly Rs 12 crore.
Joint Commissioner of Police (Barrackpore) Ajay Thakur said, “The search was made in connection with the Rs 12-crore Bhatpara Naihati Cooperative Bank scam. A complaint has been filed against BJP MP Arjun Singh and his son, Pawan, accusing them of indulging in cheating and misappropriation of money.”
Singh claimed that the police had even broken a locked gate of his relative’s house in the same area, which is nearly 500 metres away from his own residence, Majdoor Bhavan.
“My relatives stay in another state, and the police broke the lock of their house. They will definitely go to court for this,” he added.
On July 17, a police team had gone to Singh’s Bhatpara home in search of one of his nephews. However, it was denied entry by the central paramilitary force personnel, in charge of the MP’s security, as the police officers did not have a search warrant.
Reacting to the incident Medinipur MP and state BJP president Dilip Ghosh said, “It seems like a daily routine for Barrackpore Police. The police go to Singh’s house without any document to threaten him. If he is involved in corruption at all, then why didn’t they do anything when Singh was in the Trinamool Congress.”
According to police, they have also received a complaint from Bhatpara Municipality Chairman Arun Banerjee against Singh, his son and few other relatives in connection with the cheating and corruption case.
Sources said during 2017, when Singh was the Chairman of Bhatpara Municipality, he had allegedly issued a work order to a company, which received nearly Rs 4.5 crore from the civic body without doing any work.
Singh had allegedly used his power as the Chairman to allot work order to the company, jointly owned by Pawan and his another relative. Police have initiated a case and started probing the case, sources added.
Arjun Singh, heavyweight leader of the area, was elected to the Assembly four times on Trinamool ticket. Before the Lok Sabha elections this year, he joined BJP and defeated TMC’s Dinesh Trivedi.
Since the Lok Sabha polls, the Barrackpore constituency has witnessed several incidents of violence.