Kolkata: Former Trinamool MLA Nirmal Ghosh was produced before a Barrackpore court on Saturday in connection with an extortion case and remanded in police custody for seven days.Ghosh is already in police custody in a Rs 1-crore lottery ticket snatching case. The 78-year-old former five-time Panihati MLA is also an accused in the Aug 2024 case relating to alleged irregularities surrounding the hasty cremation of the RG Kar rape-murder victim.In a related development, former Panihati councillor Sanjib Mukherjee was granted bail in a separate extortion case but denied bail in the cremation case and remanded in judicial custody for 14 days. Police have also launched a manhunt for former Panihati civic chairman Somnath Dey, another FIR-named accused in the cremation case.“The complainant in the extortion case is one Asit Mukherjee, a promoter. He alleged that Nirmal Ghosh had demanded Rs 25 lakh from him, of which he was forced to pay Rs 18 lakh,” an investigating officer said.While leaving the court, Ghosh said: “The govt has changed. That is why such treatment is being meted out to the opposition.”Ghosh and Mukherjee have been booked under BNS sections for criminal conspiracy, tampering with evidence, wrongful restraint, common intention and framing an incorrect record, in connection with the cremation.The arrests of Ghosh and Mukherjee last Thursday came 72 hours after CM Suvendu Adhikari ordered a fresh probe into the alleged irregularities in the cremation of the RG Kar victim at Panihati crematorium.
