Police arrested five Trinamul workers and an expelled party leader from Dinhata-I block in Cooch Behar on Tuesday night.
Some firearms and ammunition were also seized from the home of the expelled leader, Abu al-Azad.
“During the raid in Gitaldaha (at Abu’s home), three firearms, 11 rounds of live cartridges and a sharp cutting weapon have been recovered. Our officers are investigating the case,” said Kumar Sunny Raj, the additional superintendent of police of Cooch Behar.
The other five are Trinamul workers but from different lobbies.
In Gitaldaha, infighting is acute within Trinamul for years now. On a regular basis, reports of clashes among different lobbies are reported from the area under the Sitai Assembly seat.
Sources said along with Abu, the police have arrested Ferdous Ali, Sajjad Hossain and Milan Barman, who are believed to be his associates and represent one of the lobbies.
Two more arrested, Zakir Hossain, a member of Dinhata panchayat samiti and the Trinamul chairman of Gitaldaha-I panchayat, and Manirul Hasan, Trinamul secretary in Gitaldaha-I area, represent another lobby.
On Tuesday night, a police team led by the ASP reached Gitaldaha and went to Abu’s house where they found the firearms and ammunition. In due course, five others were arrested for perpetrating violence in the area.
Sources said that since the 2018 panchayat elections, Abu had problems with Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia, the MLA of Sitai. Abu, alongwith Nisith Pramanik who later joined the BJP, fielded dummy candidates in different areas and many of them won too.
“After he (Azad) was expelled from the party, he said he would field candidates in the panchayat against those of the MLA’s lobby,” said a source.
MLA Basunia said the police did their job and Abu was causing tension in Gitaldaha since 2018.