A drainage and road-use controversy has emerged in Singur after BJP workers protested outside former West Bengal minister Indranil Sen’s garden house, alleging that a local drainage route was blocked and a road was built with panchayat funds to serve the property. Sen was produced in court on Thursday and was remanded to 10 days of police custody in a separate case related to the alleged irregularities in Durga Puja pass distribution.
The protest took place outside Sen’s garden house, known as ‘Mohor’, in the Bagdanga Chhinamor gram panchayat area of Singur. Anandabazar reported that BJP workers raised slogans outside the property and displayed a symbolic protest involving a person wearing a photograph of Sen and shoes around his neck.
Local residents quoted in the report alleged that a drainage route serving agricultural land had been filled in and that a road was constructed overnight using panchayat money without following due process. They said the changes had affected the movement of rainwater from surrounding fields. The allegations have not been independently established in the supplied report, and no response from the panchayat or Sen on the drainage and road claims was reported.
Ujjwal Khamaru, the BJP’s Singur mandal president, alleged that the road was built to provide access to the garden house and that the drainage channel had been closed. He said water from nearby agricultural plots could not flow out during the monsoon after the channel was filled. Khamaru also alleged that a Trinamool Congress leader associated with former Singur MLA and minister Becharam Manna had helped arrange the land for the property. These claims were reported as allegations by the BJP leader and local residents.
The protest followed Sen’s arrest by Kolkata Police on Wednesday. According to police cited by Anandabazar, Sen was arrested after appearing before the Enforcement Directorate at the CGO Complex in connection with a case concerning the alleged sale of Durga Puja passes using UNESCO’s name. Police said the arrest was linked to alleged non-cooperation with the investigation. He was produced in court on Thursday, which granted 10 days of police custody.
The case originated with a complaint filed at Bowbazar police station by Jaydeep Mukherjee, following which an FIR was registered. The Enforcement Directorate later began its own investigation, and the agency had previously questioned Sen and searched multiple addresses, according to the report. Sen had approached the Calcutta High Court seeking anticipatory bail, but the plea was rejected. He subsequently moved the Supreme Court, where the matter remains pending, the report said.
The reported Singur dispute places a local infrastructure question alongside the criminal investigation: whether public drainage and road works were altered for private benefit and, if so, which authority approved them and how public funds were used. The next steps in the police investigation and any response from the panchayat or Sen will determine whether the allegations lead to a formal administrative or legal finding.
