The brother of a Trinamul leader was arrested on Friday night on charges of illegal extraction of minor minerals from rivers flowing through the Dooars region.

Y. Raghuvamshi, SP, Alipurduar said that Kundan Lama, the brother of Sanjay Lama, the immediate past president of the Madarihat-Birpara block, was arrested for alleged illegal extraction of sand, stones and pebbles from riverbeds.

According to police sources, Kundan was trying to escape from north Bengal and had plans to sneak into a neighbouring country. During the past three-four weeks, he was changing his shelter every night to evade arrest. Earlier this year, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had instructed the state police to prevent illegal extraction of minor minerals as such extraction was causing revenue loss for the state government.

The police raided the Pagli riverbed area, that flows through Madarihat block, around a month ago and found a tem¬porary office, a stone crusher and a garage that had been illegally built on the riverbed. “Kundan was running this facility illegally. Boulders were extracted and crushed at the unit. Also, sand was extracted from the riverbed,” said a source.

The police also seized a car and two dump trucks from the site. The caretaker of the site was also taken into custody.Following the incident, district Trinamul leaders removed Sanjay from his post. He was replaced by Joy Prakash Toppo. Later, Kundan was produced at a local court here and was remanded in police custody for 14 days.

“We need to interrogate him to gather information about his associates and their activities,” said a police officer.Trinamul leaders, when contacted, were brief in their reactions. “Our party does not endorse any illegal act. The law will take its own course,” said Prakash Chik Baraik, the district Trinamul chief of Alipurduar.The Telegraph tried to contact Sanjay but his cell phone was switched off.