The owner of a popular biryani joint in Barrackpore near Kolkata who is also a local Trinamul leader was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly threatening and assaulting a godown owner.

The owner, Anirban Das, is an elected gram panchayat member from Bengal’s ruling party in Mohanpur, North 24-Parganas.

Das had rented a godown from Biswajit Dutta, a resident of Madhyamgram’s Badamtala area, and had allegedly refused to vacate the space. The two had signed an 11-month agreement to lease the place to Das, who runs D Bapi Biryani, on the Barrackpore-Barasat road. Dutta is employed with the Madhyamgram Municipality.

In his complaint at the Madhyamgram police station, Dutta alleged when he went to speak with Das about vacating the godown, Das abused him and then assaulted him. Das is also alleged to have taken the firearm of his security personnel and threatened Dutta with it.

The Madhyamgram police have registered a case under Arms Act and a Barasat court has remanded Das to two days police custody.

The cops are searching for Das’s security guard.

This is not the first time that the restaurant and its owner have landed in controversy.

On May 16, 2022, three men had fired at Das’s biryani outlet and injured an employee of the restaurant and a customer. Both of them had to be hospitalised.

Das’s wife had said then that someone had attacked their house and damaged their car and demanded money from him.

In June last year, Das alleged that he had been receiving calls demanding Rs 20 lakh for some time and two youths trailed him on motorcycles when he was on his way home.

The Mohanpur gram panchayat Pradhan Nirmal Kar said: “This incident has nothing to do with politics. He is a businessman and I find it surprising. Where will he get a firearm from? There could be some personal enmity. I am yet to enquire about the incident."

Also on Tuesday, in Birbhum’s Suri, during a clash between two factions of the Trinamul, one Trinamul worker called Amir Ansari grabbed the collar of Sanchayan Banerjee, the inspector-in-charge of Suri police station, and dragged him while other cops rained lathis on the Trinamul supporter.