A Maoist was on Tuesday arrested from a car of a local Trinamool Congress leader in West Midnapore district,providing further ammunition to CPI (M) to attack TMC for having an alleged nexus with the Naxals. Acting on a tip off,the joint forces intercepted the car of Trinamool's Salboni block president Nepal Singh at Patharkumkumi and arrested an alleged Maoist squad member Kanchan Deb Singh,Superintendent of Police Manoj Kumar Verma said. Singh,who belongs to Madhupur area under Salboni police station,already faces charges of murder and arson,he said. "There are at least 15 to 20 cases against Singh,including double and triple murders. He was also responsible for the destruction of Kalaimuri camp of the joint forces,last year," Verma said. His brother Hemant Deb Singh,a Maoist squad member,was killed in an encounter with the joint forces last year,the SP said. Trinamool District President Pranab Basu,however,disputed the claim of the police that Singh was a Maoist. He claimed that Singh,who was earlier arrested by the Assam police,was on bail and had left the ultra camp. The accused was being driven to a meeting by Nepal Singh,when he wasv arrested,he said. "He is not a criminal now and was arrested by mistake by the police," Basu said.
