Siliguri, 23rd July: The police of Matigara police station arrested four leaders of a political party, on Saturday night, from the Shiv Mandir area of Siliguri for allegedly collecting “Dadagiri tax” (illegal collection). The arrested accused have been identified as Sourav Sarkar, Gaurav Banik, Bablu Barman, and Krishna Poddar.
According to sources, a few days ago, Anupam Sonar, a businessman of Siliguri’s Matigara was allegedly demanded rupees 6 lakhs by four leaders of a political party for an event on July 21. During this, all four held a meeting with the businessman at a restaurant in the Shiv Mandir area. After negotiations, the amount was fixed at rupees 2.5 lakhs. Subsequently, on the 13th the businessman allegedly handed over one lakh rupees to the four. However, the four allegedly started pressurizing and threatening the businessman to provide rupees 1.5 lakhs before the Puja.
Meanwhile, the businessman fed up with the harassment, lodged a written complaint against the four, on July 21, at the Matigara police station. Based on the complaint, the cops of Matigara police station arrested the four accused from the Shiv Mandir area. Today, all the accused have been produced before the Siliguri Court by the police, while, further investigations are underway.