Kolkata: Udayan Guha, the former West Bengal Minister in charge of the North Bengal Development Department in the previous Mamata Banerjee-led cabinet, was arrested on Wednesday from his residence in Phoolbagan, Kolkata.
Although the officials are yet to specify the exact charges under which Guha was arrested, sources said police had been trying to track him for some time.
However, a source in the state police said the former minister is accused of involvement in post-poll violence in his native district of Cooch Behar following the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections, which marked the beginning of the third consecutive term of Mamata Banerjee as Chief Minister.
Guha’s arrest has likely been in connection with those cases registered against him in relation to the 2021 post-poll violence.
He is the third minister in the previous Mamata Banerjee-led cabinet to be arrested since the new Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari took charge on May 9.
Former state Fire Services Minister Sujit Bose was the first member of the previous cabinet to be arrested last month by the officials of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for his alleged involvement in the multi-core municipalities’ job case.
Then on June 9, Ujjal Biswas, the former Correctional Services Minister in the previous Mamata Banerjee-led cabinet, was arrested on charges of illegally hoarding relief material of the state government.
Now, on Wednesday, Udayan Guha is the third minister of the previous cabinet to be arrested.
Udayan Guha is the son of Late Kamal Guha, who was an All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) leader from Cooch Behar district and a member of the Left Front cabinet in West Bengal for over two decades.
Udayan started his legislative career with AIFB, when for the first time he got elected from Dinhata Assembly constituency in Cooch Behar district in 2011. However, he joined Trinamool Congress before the 2016 West Bengal Assembly election and was re-elected from Dinhata that year but as a Trinamool Congress candidate.
He continued to be the MLA from Dinhata till 2026, until he was defeated in the recently concluded Assembly polls by BJP’s Ajay Ray by a margin of over 17,000 votes.
(IANS)
