Court Orders Probe Into Alleged Govt Land Encroachment, Soil Smuggling; TMC's Abhishek Banerjee Among 11 Named In Complaint

Krishnanagar: Fresh legal trouble has emerged for Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and 10 others as the Krishnanagar District Court in West Bengal's Nadia has ordered investigation following a complaint over alleged illegal occupation of government land, soil smuggling and felling of valuable trees.

As per a petition filed in the Krishnanagar District Court, around 1,100 bighas of government land under the jurisdiction of Nakashipara Police Station have been illegally encroached upon. Acting on the petition, the court directed Nakashipara Police Station to conduct an investigation into the allegations. The matter is scheduled to come up for hearing again on Saturday (June 27).

According to the petitioners, the land was leased to a private company when the Left Front government was in power. However, after the factory shut down in 2005, the land effectively reverted to government control.

It was further alleged that after the Trinamool Congress returned to power for a second term in 2016, a large portion of the land came under the control of local party leaders. The petition claimed that soil worth lakhs of rupees was illegally extracted and sold from nearly 450 bighas of the land. It also alleged that valuable trees worth crores of rupees were cut and smuggled out.

This apart, several tribal women in the area were allegedly sexually harassed and exploited by influential persons, with the incidents allegedly continuing with the support of certain sections of the administration, the complaint mentioned.

Lawyer Shirshendu Das, who is associated with the case, said the petition was filed by several individuals, including Nakashipara BJP leaders Ashok Sarkar, Ranjit Biswas and Netai Satra. The petitioners have alleged that crores of rupees were illegally generated from the government land and claimed that part of the proceeds reached Abhishek Banerjee through local Trinamool leaders.

A total of 11 persons, including Banerjee, have been named as accused in the complaint. The court has directed the police to investigate the allegations and submit findings as per law.

As of now, there has been no official response from Abhishek Banerjee or the Trinamool Congress leaders regarding the allegations. The complaint has, however, triggered political debate in the state as attention now shifts to the outcome of the police investigation and the court's next hearing.

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