Bengal CID summons former BJP MP Arjun Singh in 2020 case ahead of Naihati general election | Kolkata

Kolkata: The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the West Bengal police summoned former Lok Sabha member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Arjun Singh on November 12 in connection with a case related to criminal breach of trust and alleged misconduct committed while in office. Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislator.

“On November 12, I was summoned to the CID office in Kolkata. This is clearly an attempt to keep me away from poll preparations (for the Naihati general election on November 13). It is public knowledge that the police in Bengal is controlled by the ruling party,” Singh said on Tuesday.

Naihati is one of the seven assembly segments that form the Barrackpore Lok Sabha seat won by Arjun Singh in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Singh is also heading the BJP’s Naihati general election campaign.

Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Suvendu Adhikari, who released a copy of the CID summons on Monday on X, also questioned the timing of the summons and announced that they would approach the court for help.

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When asked about the allegations, a police officer said: “Singh was also summoned over a week ago but did not appear, saying he was busy campaigning for the general election in Naihati assembly seat in North 24 Parganas.”

Singh was a four-time TMC legislator from Bhatpara in North 24 Parganas district before joining the BJP and wresting the local Barrackpore Lok Sabha seat from TMC’s Dinesh Trivedi in 2019.

The first information report (FIR) was filed at Bhatpara police station on July 28, 2020, more than a year after Singh won the Barrackpore Lok Sabha election in 2019.

In August 2020, police raided Singh’s home in connection with the case allegedly involving financial irregularities. ₹11 crore in Bhatpara municipality and a local cooperative bank.

Singh was the TMC chief of Bhatpara municipality from 2010 to 2019. He also chaired the bank’s board of directors.

Singh, who was the state vice-president of the BJP, returned to the TMC in May 2022 after 38 months. However, after the TMC failed to field him from the Barrackpore seat in the 2024 general elections, he returned to the BJP and contested the elections. However, he lost to his arch rival TMC’s Partha Bhowmick, who resigned from Naihati assembly seat after winning Barrackpore.

By-polls for five other assembly seats in Bengal will be held on November 13 as incumbent MPs are elected to the Lok Sabha. Only one of these assembly seats belonged to the BJP.