Hundreds of CPM leaders hit the streets on Tuesday to protest a police complaint filed against party veteran Jibesh Sarkar, alleging his involvement in shady land deals.

“Each resident of Siliguri is aware of the antecedents and political career of Jibesh Sarkar, one of our senior leaders. We suspect this complaint is a part of a plan to malign our party’s and his image,” said Saman Pathak, the CPM district secretary of Darjeeling.

Over the past few days, Siliguri Metropolitan Police has acted against land-grabbers. The move followed specific orders from chief minister Mamata Banerjee last Thursday during a virtual meeting to crack down on all involved in illegal land deals. Anshuman Biswas of Siliguri filed a complaint with New Jalpaiguri police on May 1, alleging that some people were encroaching on the banks of Mahananda river and selling the land and named eight persons including Sarkar.

“It is a baseless allegation. I do not want to give any importance to it,” said Sarkar, who has been inducted in the state secretariat of the CPM and is also the convener of Darjeeling district Left Front.

Even the BJP questioned the complaint.

“No one will believe that Jibesh Sarkar is involved in such acts. We don’t know from where the complainant got this information,” said Shankar Ghosh, the BJP MLA of Siliguri.

Alok Chakraborty, the Trinamul chairman of Darjeeling (plains) district, said the complainant had no link to their party.

Senior officers of Siliguri Metropolitan Police said they are gathering information about the complaint.

Biswas, the complainant, could not be contacted.