Four days after a police team that visited Sandeshkhali in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district was attacked, the prime accused in the case, Musa Mollah, a local Trinamool Congress (TMC) worker, was arrested on Tuesday.

Mollah was arrested under the jurisdiction of the Nazat police station, taking the total number of arrests in the case to 13, according to police sources. A senior police official said he would be produced before the Basirhat sub‑divisional court, where the police would seek his remand.

The development comes days after six policemen were injured and a police vehicle was vandalised in Sandeshkhali when a police team arrived at the house of Mollah, who is allegedly close to suspended TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh.

Mollah had allegedly occupied land in the area illegally, leading to a dispute. Following this, the Basirhat sub-divisional court imposed Section 144 on the property. Mollah then allegedly began filling the farmland with salt water. After the police were alerted, notices were issued to Mollah, but he allegedly did not comply.

When a team from the Nazat police station went to Mollah’s house in Boyarmari and asked him to accompany them to the station, he allegedly called his followers, who stopped the police car, vandalised the vehicle, injured the personnel, and took Mollah away. Later, personnel from the Rajbari police outpost also arrived at the spot, but they too were allegedly attacked.

After the incident, a large police force was deployed in the area.

This is not the first time that those in uniform have been attacked in Sandeshkhali. In January 2024, an Enforcement Directorate (ED) team was attacked when they visited Sheikh’s house.