TMC leader Ajit Maity arrested in West Bengal on extortion charges

West Bengal police on Friday arrested Trinamool Congress leader Ajit Maity on extortion charges, in a case registered by the Pingla police station.

The complaint was filed by a person named Gautam Das, who alleged that Maity had taken money from him in exchange for a promise of a post in the party.

Maity, who is associated with the Mamata Banerjee-backed faction of the Trinamool Congress, was arrested from his residence in Kharagpur and taken to the Debra police station.

Speaking before he was taken to Debra, Maity described the arrest as politically driven. "This arrest is for political reasons. I have faith in the police and administration," he said.

Maity won the Pingla constituency in the 2021 assembly elections, but contested from the same seat in 2026 and lost to the BJP candidate. He is currently the vice-president of the Midnapore Zilla Parishad, and has earlier served as president of the party's West Midnapore organizational district and later its Ghatal organizational district.

His arrest comes amid a series of detentions of former Trinamool MLAs and leaders loyal to Mamata Banerjee since the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in the state in May 2026. Those leaders have been booked on charges of violence, extortion and intimidation.

Trinamool leaders who have joined rebel factions in the State Assembly and the Lok Sabha have not been arrested, a pattern that Banerjee loyalists have cited to argue that the cases against them are politically motivated.