District Trinamool leaders admitted that the arrested man, Kartik Deb Singho, is from their party, but said he is being falsely implicated by the police. Singho, who was picked up from a relative’s house in Manikpara police station area in Jhargram, was today produced in a court, which remanded him in police custody for 10 days.

West Midnapore SP Manoj Verma said there are specific cases against Singho. “He was arrested as he is accused of Maoist activities in the area and has links with Maoists squads. There are specific cases against him.”

Singho is the anchal sabhadhipati of Debagram in Salboni. Besides pressing charges of waging war against the government, the police have also charged Singho with attempt to murder and setting property on fire. Police said the Trinamool leader is accused of setting fire to a house in 2000.

However, local Trinamool leaders alleged a frame-up. “It is true he is the anchal sabhapati of Debagram. But the police have falsely implicated him.

After his arrest, I spoke to the SP, who said that he had Maoist antecedents,” said Mrigen Maity, district president of Trinamool in West Midnapore.

“The PCPA members may have forced him to join them, but he is not a Maoist. The police have booked him in cases which are slapped on Maoist squad members. I have spoken to our chief Mamata Banerjee and we will launch an agitation against this,” Maity added.

Mahato admitted Singho was with them. “He was our committee member and participated in our agitation,” he said.

Meanwhile, security forces detected and defused an IED in Bikrampur in Sarenga police station area even as they continued to flush out Maoists from Lalgarh and surrounding areas.

The police also arrested 300 members of Mazdur Kranti Parishad, a Naxalite faction, for trying to visit Lalgarh, where Section 144 of the CrPC is presently imposed.

The members of the Parishad were detained at Midnapore station when they arrived from Kolkata on Thursday morning. The outfit had planned for a rally in Midnapore town before visiting Lalgarh.