Bengal:Independent Rejinagar bypoll candidate arrested for 2021 clash

In West Bengal, an Independent candidate for the Rejinagar Assembly bypoll was arrested on Saturday in a five-year-old case of a clash between two groups during the 2021 state elections, police said. The arrest of Saiful Islam, who is associated with the Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) led by Humayun Kabir, came a day after police nabbed the Congress' Nandigram Assembly bypoll candidate Milan Pradhan in an almost two-decades-old case registered during agitation against land acquisition in the region.
The two bypolls slated for October 6 were necessitated after Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari vacated Nandigram, which he had won alongside Bhabanipur, while Rejinagar fell vacant after Kabir retained Nawda upon winning both seats in the 2026 Assembly elections. The AJUP has fielded Kabir’s son Golam Nabi Azad for the Rejinagar bypoll.
"Officials from Berhampore police station arrested Saiful Islam in connection with a case dating back to the previous Assembly election, when a clash had broken out between two groups," a police officer told a news agency on the condition of anonymity.Saiful Islam Mondal, alias Madan, the Block President of Humayun Kabir’s Aam Janata Unnayan Party in Murshidabad, who is contesting the Rejinagar Assembly by-election as an independent candidate, was taken into custody by the Bengal Police, sources said.
Meanwhile, a Haldia court on Saturday rejected the bail plea of Congress candidate Milan Pradhan, who was arrested in connection with cases dating back to the 2007 Nandigram land acquisition movement. The court sent Pradhan to 14 days of judicial custody till October 3. Pradhan was arrested in connection with multiple pending cases dating back to 2007. Police said that the cases registered include serious charges such as murder, attempt to murder, rioting and offences under the Arms Act. "The concerned cases against the arrested person involve serious offences including murder, attempt to murder, abduction with intent to murder, causing disappearance of evidence, house trespass, rioting with arms and deadly weapons," the police said in a press release.