Former Trinamool Congress (TMC) minister Shyamaprasad Mukherjee was on Saturday night arrested by the Bankura district police on charges of corruption involving the Bishnupur municipality where he served as chairman till 2020. According to a report, it has been alleged that Mukherjee was involved in financial irregularities to the tune of Rs 9.91 crore.
A Bankura court remanded the accused to police custody for five days on Sunday afternoon. “I have no idea why I was arrested,” Mukherjee said while he was being taken to court.
The police arrested him following a probe into irregularities in tenders floated by the Bishnupur municipality. The complaint was lodged by the sub-divisional officer of Bishnupur.
“Mukherjee was arrested after he failed to explain the irregularities,” said Bankura superintendent of police Dhritiman Sarkar.
“Irregularities were found in as many as 50 tenders. These were all related to development projects launched by the chief minister,” said Shyamal Santra, a former minister and TMC legislator for Kotulpur in Bankura.
While, Samik Bhattacharya, Bengal BJP’s chief spokesperson said, "Mukherjee was never active in our party. The alleged crime took place when he was in the TMC. BJP has nothing to do with this."
On December 19, 2020, Mukherjee joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) when Suvendu Adhikari and a host of TMC leaders left the ruling party and switched sides. He was however, never seen at any BJP event nor was he given any post in the state committee.
The former legislator from Bishnupur assembly constituency was a minister in the first TMC government but was later dropped by chief minister Mamata Banerjee. He was not fielded in the March-April state polls.
