The prime accused in the assault of a young man and his mother early on Monday in Ariadaha was arrested near Dunlop on the northern fringe of the city on Thursday morning.

Jayanth Singh, a local Trinamool Congress strongman, was absconding for the past few days after he was named in an FIR for the assault of Sayandip Panja and his mother Bubun.

Soon after the attack, Jayanth is said to have fled from Ariadaha in his car to a resort in Dabgram in Raiganj, police said. After a day, he shifted to another resort in north Bengal. He decided to return because he ran out of money, the police said.

Early on Thursday, he reached a place near Dunlop, barely 2km from the site where Sayandip and Bubun were beaten up, to meet someone to get money.

“Jayanth was planning to go to Odisha after collecting the money from one of his acquaintances, who lives close to the Indian Statistical Institute near Dunlop,” said an officer. “We arrested him while he was stepping out of the house.”

During questioning Jayanth told officers he wasn’t around when Sayandip and his mother were being assaulted. He reached the spot later but wasn’t involved in beating up the two, officers said quoting Jayanth.

On Wednesday, Sayandip’s father Bimal told Metro Jayanth stood watching as his men thrashed his son and wife on Kedar Nath Singha Road in Ariadaha.

Hours after Jayanth’s arrest, Bimal remained busy attending to his wife, still in hospital with multiple stitches on her lower jaw and head. Sayandip, too, has received several stitches on his head after being hit by rods and sticks.

Around Thursday afternoon, when the police were preparing to produce Jayanth before the Barrackpore court, one of Sayandip’s cousin sisters reached Dakshineswar police station and filed a complaint against seven key associates of Jayanth.

“These men created a WhatsApp group where they have been posting slanderous stuff about me including what they plan to do with me if they found me alone on the streets,” the woman said. “These seven men are Jayanath’s associates who are also members of the Ariadaha Taltala Sporting Club, that he runs. Even after Jayanth’s arrest, I’m feeling insecure.”

The police said Jayanth was allegedly involved in at least 10 criminal cases, seven of them registered with Dakshineswar police station and the rest with Belgharia.

At the Barrackpore court, officers prayed for 14 days’ custody of Jayanth saying they had to interrogate him in several cases. Jayanth’s lawyers prayed bail.

After hearing both sides, the additional chief judicial magistrate remanded Jayanth in four days of police custody.

Officers said Jayanth was an accused in the attempt to murder an Ariadaha youth a year ago. He had been arrested then and later got bail, the police said.

Arjun Singh, BJP leader from Barrackpore, said on Thursday: “Jayanth surrendered before Belgharia police today. He wasn’t arrested.”