Trinamool headquarter property owner goes to cops, wants party out

KOLKATA: The owner of the property off EM Bypass that houses the TMC headquarters told officers at Pragati Maidan police station on Sunday that he wants the former governing party of Bengal to vacate the premises.Montu Saha, who owns A/P-1/A Canal South Road, said the tenancy agreement with TMC lapsed in late 2025, and his appeals to the party to move out went unheeded, prompting him to seek police help to get his property back.Montu and his son Amit went to their property on Sunday to speak to TMC members to convince them to shift their office. But no party functionary was present. After waiting for a couple of hours, they headed to the police station.The father-son duo indicated that they would seek legal recourse to evict the party from the Canal South Road address, which has been known as Trinamool Bhawan since the party moved in three years ago. All party work for the 2024 LS polls and the 2026 assembly polls was coordinated from there.The party’s original HQ — also known as Trinamool Bhawan — is now mired in controversy. Javed Khan, a rebel party MLA, has claimed that the land on which Trinamool Bhawan stands belongs to his family. “I have all the documents to prove that the Topsia Road plot is owned by my family,” he has said.The party had shifted its headquarters to the Sahas’ property as the leadership wanted to renovate the original Trinamool Bhawan. Montu Saha’s son Amit said they had rented out their property to TMC in 2022.“After the contract lapsed late last year, we approached them several times, saying we want the building back. The structure needs repairs. We need it for business purposes. They told us they would vacate the building by July, but we want it back now. Lately, no one at the party has been available to communicate with us on this matter. We were left with no option but to approach the police,” Amit said.Before renting out the property to TMC, the Sahas ran a hotel named ‘Arab Residency’ from the premises.A TMC functionary said Saha did not do any favour to the party by renting out the property. “In return, he had bagged multiple contracts.”(With inputs from Sarthak Ganguly)