A Rajarhat resident has alleged that he was assaulted in a kangaroo court held at a Trinamool Congress office in Rajarhat last Saturday.

Goutam Sarkar, 36, a resident of the Bhatenda area of the Rajarhat-Bishnupur I gram panchayat, around 9km from New Town, has alleged that he was called to the local Trinamool office on Saturday to settle a financial dispute between the company where he works and another individual, but was assaulted instead.

Sarkar lodged a complaint against Raktim Kar, a member of the Rajarhat-Bishnupur I gram panchayat, and others with Rajarhat police station on Monday, based on which a case has been started.

Kar told Metro on Monday that he had called Sarkar to “settle” an issue but denied the allegation of violence.

Police said they are investigating the complaint. “We have started an investigation into the case,” said Manav Singh, deputy commissioner, New Town, Bidhannagar commissionerate.

“I lost my father recently and his last rites were performed last Friday. The next day I was called to the local party (Trinamool) office at the Bhatenda Chowmatha crossing by Raktim Kar. I was called to settle a matter but instead he got me beaten up in his party office,” Sarkar told this newspaper.

Sarkar, who lives with his elderly mother, wife and two-year-old daughter, said he works with a finance company which was supposed to pay some commission to a youth for getting clients.

“On Saturday, when I went to the party office, I was threatened and beaten up because the company I work for failed to pay the commission to that youth. He (Kar) said there was pressure on him from senior leaders in Calcutta. I tried to explain to him that the matter should be directly discussed with my office and that I had nothing to do with this, but he did not listen to me. I was hit on my face, chest and head,” Sarkar said.

He further alleged that his phone was snatched and formatted to delete the recordings he made of events at the party office.

Kar, when contacted by this newspaper, said the allegations of assault by Sarkar were “baseless.”

“My office is in a crowded locality and the doors remain open so that common people can access me any time. A youth named Anirban Sarkar came to me seeking help to recover ₹2.25 lakh from a finance company. On enquiry, I found that Goutam Sarkar, who is an employee of the company, was instrumental in holding up the money and was demanding ₹50,000 from the youth to facilitate the payment of the outstanding amount. So I called him to settle the matter,” Kar said.

He denied subjecting Sarkar to violence or formatting his phone. Kar said he caught Sarkar recording their conversation before Sarkar deleted the file himself.

Prabir Kar, the chairman of the Rajarhat gram panchayat samity, who is also Kar’s uncle, said: “I am aware of this. What he did is wrong and is out of our party’s line. We will not tolerate this and the law will take its course. We will also take disciplinary action against him in due course of time.”

The allegations emerged at a time when the ruling party is yet to recover from the impact of similar complaints against party functionaries holding kangaroo courts in their areas.

Earlier this month, video footage showing a man and a woman being flogged in a kangaroo court held by a TMC leader in North Dinajpur’s Chopra opened the floodgates of complaints from across the state.

Closer to the city, at least two alleged strongmen with Trinamool links — Ariadaha’s Jayant Singh and Sonarpur’s Jamaluddin Sardar — were accused of holding kangaroo courts in their office and home, respectively. Both have been arrested.