The police commissioner of Asansol Durgapur suspended sub-inspector Monoranjan Mondal, who was posted as the officer-in-charge of Barabani police station, on Thursday night for his "unprofessional conduct and dereliction of duty."

Former Trinamool Congress councillor Arabinda Nandi and the husband of a former Trinamool Councillor, Rintu Panja, were arrested on charges of pilfering sand and scrap iron in Durgapur.

The two developments created a flutter in the police administration and the political circles as the actions came within hours of Mamata Banerjee's comments during a news conference in Nabanna in which she held a section of lower-level police and government officials responsible for their alleged involvement in coal, stone and sand smuggling.

IC of Kanksa police station Partha Ghosh has been sent on compulsory waiting with immediate effect. He was under the scanner for his alleged role in the recent surge in coal smuggling in the region.

A senior police officer in south Bengal claimed that it has been decided that action would be taken against anyone, whose name has cropped up in connection with smuggling of sand, coal or stone.

"Suspension of the police officer and the arrest of TMC leaders in West Burdwan are just the beginning of the process. No one involved in such crime will be spared," said the police officer.

Multiple police sources said that complaints were mounting against Mondal for his alleged role in facilitating coal smuggling in his jurisdiction.

"He was recently transferred to Andal police station, another important police station in the coal belt, but following complaints against him, a departmental inquiry was initiated against him," a source said.

According to him, several complaints had been lodged against Nandi and Panja for their involvement in sand smuggling and other illegal activities with the party higher-ups. The police arrested them after the CM's news conference, the source added.

The complaints of sand or coal smuggling are nothing new in districts like Birbhum, East Burdwan, Bankura, Hooghly and West Burdwan in south Bengal, but multiple sources said that there has been a spurt in numbers of complaints in recent months.

"Coal and sand smuggling in the Asansol-Durgapur belt has grown because of patronisation from ruling party leaders and a section of police officers.... This information must have reached CM, which prompted her to crack the whip," said a source.

Following the chief minister's news conference, police chiefs of all south Bengal districts on Friday alerted officers in charge of police stations to keep a tab on pilferage of such minerals in their respective jurisdictions.

In Hooghly's Arambagh on early Friday morning, police detained three sand-laden trucks. The police carried out raids on roads connecting Calcutta to check the documents of stone, sand and coal-laden vehicles.

Mamata's comments on Thursday regarding the alleged involvement of lower-level police and government officials in the sand or coal smuggling gave the BJP a fresh opportunity to intensify their demand for her resignation.

Suvendu Adhikari, leader of the Opposition on Friday claimed that the chief minister's comments on Thursday were unfortunate and necessary for her immediate resignation.

"She has held some lower-level police officers, and CID sleuths responsible for the pilferage and illegal works. But the officers get involved in illegal works under the supervision of her party leaders," Adhikari told reporters outside the Bengal Assembly.

The CPM said the correctional homes in the state would be overcrowded with Trinamool leaders if the police began arresting those involved in coal and sand smuggling.

"Coal and sand smuggling are patronage by local ruling party leaders. The jails will be flooded by them if police launch a crackdown genuinely," said Minakshi Mukherjee, DYFI state secretary.

"Our government is always against any such illegal activities and our chief minister's initiative proved this," said V. Sivadasan Trinamool convenor in West Burdwan.