Jamaluddin Sardar, the Sonarpur leader from whom the Trinamool Congress has now distanced itself, had paid ₹3 lakh to a man to get Samir Naskar killed by a speeding car, Naskar alleged on Saturday when Sardar was produced at the Baruipur court.

“Jamaluddin Sardar paid the amount to one Rashid Mallik to get me hit by a speeding car. He had even tried kidnapping my child from school,” Naskar, a resident of Pratapnagar in Sonarpur, told reporters. “He was hand in glove with a section of officials from the land and land reforms department who helped him acquire several tracts of state-owned land in Sonarpur.”

Accused of moral policing, holding kangaroo courts and brutally assaulting men and women in Sonarpur, Sardar was arrested in Baruipur on Friday.

On his way to court from Sonarpur police station, Sardar told reporters he was
fighting a legal battle in Calcutta High Court to prevent grabbing of government land by some Sonarpur residents who have spoken out against him.

“I have lodged a case of forcible acquisition of state land in the (Calcutta) high court (case details 62/24) against some of those who have spoken out against me on TV channels. They have built their houses on state land,” Sardar told reporters from the prison van. “This is a clear case of conspiracy against me.”

In court, police pressed a slew of charges against him, including attempt to murder, extortion, forcible confinement, assault and outraging of modesty of women. The cops sought 14 days of custody to interrogate him.

Sardar’s lawyers told the court that though the police had pressed extortion charges against him, there was no evidence of money exchange. They argued that Sardar had been charged with attempt to murder but the victim’s medical records don’t say so.

The court remanded him in police custody for 10 days.

“We will question him about his alleged involvement in each of the cases,” said an officer.