Second arrested in TMC leader extortion case; Accused supplied SIM to prime suspect

Malda district police have made a second arrest in the extortion call case involving senior Trinamool Congress leader and Chairman of English Bazar Municipality, Krishnendu Narayan Choudhury. The arrest took place late on Saturday night. According to district police sources, the second person arrested in this case has been identified as Wasim Akram, who was responsible for providing a SIM card to the main accused, Shahadat Sheikh.

Sheikh had used this SIM card to make the extortion call to Choudhury and had sent a similar message posing as Pradeep, an associate of D-Company. D-Company is an organized crime syndicate founded in Mumbai by the notorious gangster Dawood Ibrahim. Shahadat Sheikh, a resident of Kaliachak in Malda district and an acquaintance of Choudhury, was arrested by investigating officers on Saturday afternoon. The SIM card provided by Akram was used by Sheikh to make the extortion call and send a similar threatening message.

Commenting on the incident, Choudhury said that he believed the extortion call was made to create an atmosphere of fear within the Trinamool Congress leadership in Malda district. He stated, "This all started last month when our party councillor from English Bazar Municipality was murdered in broad daylight. Attempts are being made to spread fear among the district party leadership." During interrogation, Shahadat Sheikh claimed that he was under a huge burden of debt, which led him to consider making an extortion call to Choudhury.

Incidentally, on Saturday morning, Trinamool Congress's Malda district president and party MLA from the Malatipur assembly constituency, Abdul Rahim Boxi, issued an ultimatum to the police. He warned that if swift action was not taken in the case, ruling party workers would be forced to respond. On Friday, Choudhury filed a police complaint stating that he had received a phone call from an unknown person who identified himself as Pradeep from D-Company.

The caller threatened that if Choudhury did not pay ₹20 lakh within 24 hours, his entire family would be eliminated. Prior to this, Choudhury had received two similar messages on WhatsApp, which he initially dismissed as a prank.