The Trinamul Congress has landed in an embarrassing situation after revelations that a section of the local party leaders were in league with Anirban Bhattacharya, who was on Thursday arrested for alleged cheating people.

The roles of the leaders in question are under scanner, party sources have said. INTTUC leaders said Mr Bhattacharya had introduced himself as a senior state level leader of the labour arm of the Trinamul Congress and an MP, while Mr Bhattacharya had claimed he was the confidential assistant of Midnapore MP Sandhya Roy.

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Leaders alleged that Mr Bhattacharya held several meetings with a section of the local party leaders at tea plantations under Naxalbari block, Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Malda, and Murshidabad under the banner of Casual and Contract Labour Union, affiliated to the INTTUC, with the intention to bring about a wedge in the INTTUC and with other vested interests.

Names of local leaders like Bappa Das, the Naxalbari Block-II president of the Trinamul Youth Congress, have come up as they allegedly accompanied Mr Bhattacharya in the meetings.

“He introduced himself with pictures he had taken with party supremo and chief minister Mamata Banerjee and MP Abhishek Banerjee. So it did not occur to us that he was bluffing,” Mr Das, however, said.

Party leaders said Mr Bhattacharya was able to successfully influence some party workers. “Some party workers and INTTUC activists fell in their trap.

They lured the tea workers with the promise of giving them health cards, and making arrangements for health treatments in Kolkata and others. To some extent, they were able to convince our party men, and they could not have done so without the involvement of the local leadership. The party is looking into how much involvement they had,” a senior party leader said.

Trinamul leaders also suspected BJP hand in the entire episode. Darjeeling district INTTUC working president Nirjal Dey said they have asked activists to not walk into such trap.

“We are asking INTTUC activists and tea workers to not fall into the trap. They should not believe anyone carrying their photos with Mamata Banerjee and other leaders,” Mr Dey said.

District INTTUC president Arup Ratan Ghosh said they had sent reports about the matter to the party leadership. “We have sent detailed reports to the leadership. It appears that some party men were involved with Anirban Bhattacharya and others. The party will act on it,” Mr Ghosh said.

Police arrested four persons, including Mr Bhattacharya, on Thursday. The accused persons hail from Kolkata, East Midnapore and Jhargram.