TMC Leader Shahidul Miah Arrested Following Intense Villager Protest Over Rs. 8 Lakh Housing Scam

West Bengal: Villagers in West Bengal's Cooch Behar chased a local TMC leader into his own bedroom. He hid under a cot. Police had to come and drag him out. The video is all over social media now.

Who is the man at the center?

His name is Shahidul Miah. He is a local Trinamool Congress leader and civic volunteer. People in his area trusted him. They gave him money. He had also promised them to give government houses under a housing scheme.
But the houses never came and the money was never returned.
Villagers blamed it as a extortion of money.

How the anger boiled over?

It started on May 25. A group of women showed up outside his house. They wanted their money back. He did not came out and nothing happened that day.
Then Wednesday came. This time the crowd was bigger and angrier. They surrounded the house completely. There was no way out for Miah.
He ran inside and went into the bedroom. He just crawled under a bed and stayed there. Police arrived after getting a call about the unrest. They went in, found him hiding under the cot and pulled him out. He was then quietly taken to Mathabhanga police station.

Poor families lost lakhs?

These were not rich people. Residents say Miah took anywhere between Rs 5,000 and Rs 20,000 from each family. Added together, the total comes to nearly Rs 8 lakh.
Every single rupee was taken on the promise to provide the government house. Not even a single family got what was promised earlier.

One villager told, "He took thousands from poor families promising houses that never came. We just want our money back."
Police are now investigating the extortion charges.

Bengal's bigger problem?

This is happening everywhere in West Bengal right now. One after another, TMC leaders and councilors are getting arrested.
Same day as the Miah incident, Kolkata Municipal Corporation councilor Biswajit Mondal was arrested. A woman from Purba Putiary had filed a complaint against him on June 1. She accused him of assault and molestation. She also said he threatened her after the change of government in the state.
Two days before that, on June 2, two more KMC councilors were picked up. Arijit Das Thakur from Ward 106 and Sachin Singh from Ward 36; both arrested in separate extortion cases.
The very next day, Ward 2 councilor Mahesh Kumar Sharma was also arrested. Extortion and criminal charged had intimidated.
In a single week, four councilor with a similar storyline came into highlight.