Kolkata, June 4 (IANS). Swaroop Biswas, brother of former West Bengal Sports Minister Arup Biswas, was taken into custody by Kolkata Police on Thursday night. He is an accused in the case of vandalism at Yuva Bharti Krirangan in Salt Lake during Lionel Messi’s GOAT India Tour last year.
According to information received from state police sources, the arrest was made in connection with allegations of extortion from technicians associated with the Bengali film industry.
Sources aware of the development said Swaroop Biswas was arrested following a complaint lodged by a female makeup artist associated with an organization of makeup artists working in Bengali film, television and OTT production, based in Tollygunge on the southern outskirts of Kolkata.
Tollygunge was represented in the West Bengal Assembly by Swaroop Biswas’s elder brother Arup Biswas, who had been a Trinamool Congress MLA for four consecutive terms between 2006 and 2026.
The complainant alleged that Swaroop Biswas conspired to prevent her from getting any make-up related work for the last two years. She also alleged that Swarup had threatened her several times when her elder brother was the sports and energy minister in the previous West Bengal government led by Mamata Banerjee.
In his complaint, he further alleged that Swaroop Biswas extorted several lakhs of rupees from him through threats and intimidation. Based on the complaint, New Alipore police station started investigation and subsequently arrested him on Thursday night.
After the Trinamool Congress came to power in West Bengal, Swarup Biswas had served for a long time as the President of the Federation of Cinema Technicians and Workers of Eastern India in Kolkata.
He had been accused of extortion from members of his organization for a long time. Kolkata Police took him into custody on Thursday night and he will be produced before a Kolkata trial court on Friday.
Arup Biswas, former state energy minister in the previous cabinet led by Mamata Banerjee, was a four-time Trinamool Congress MLA from Tollygunge assembly constituency in South 24 Parganas district.
However, in the recently concluded West Bengal Assembly elections, she was defeated by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Papia Adhikari by a margin of over 6,000 votes.
–IANS
SAK/DKP