Kolkata, Aug 30 (IANS): The Kolkata Police, on Friday, arrested a local Trinamool Congress leader in the New Town area in the northern outskirts of Kolkata on charges of duping people of a few crores of rupees by forging the letterhead of the party’s general secretary and Lok Sabha member Abhishek Banerjee.

The name of the local-level ruling party leader, according to city police sources, is Kaushik Sarkar.

The main charge against him is that he had forged the letter of Abhishek Banerjee and duped people of money by promising them recommendations by the party’s general secretary for jobs or other favours.

It is learnt that the cops of Shakespeare Street Police Station started an investigation on this count following a complaint by a local businessman.

As per the sources, the businessman gave money to Kaushik Sarkar on the promise that a meeting with the Trinamool MP would be arranged.

However, after getting the money Sarkar built up several excuses and avoided arranging the meeting. The persistent excuses made the businessman suspicious and finally, he approached the police.

As the cops started their investigation into the matter, sources said, they came across a few other persons who had been similarly duped by Sarkar.

The city police officials have estimated that the total amount duped by Sarkar ranges to the tune of around Rs 4 crore.

Sources said that even in the locality where he used to reside he often made tall talks to his neighbours about his connections both in the Central and state governments. He often flaunted his Trinamool connections and kept a record of his photographs with party leaders, whether big or small.

Following his arrest, the ruling party leadership started distancing from him. The party claimed that Sarkar was quite regular in attending public programmes of the party, but was never allotted any organisational post.

As the investigations were ongoing, more details were awaited.