Jalpaiguri District Police arrested a government high school teacher, Ranjit Sikdar, on 20 August after an overnight raid uncovered an alleged brown sugar manufacturing unit inside his rented house near Chhochhariya petrol pump in Nagrakata, Jalpaiguri district, West Bengal. A suspected buyer, Dheeraj Mahato, was also detained during the operation, which was conducted under a veil of secrecy with even lower-ranking police personnel kept in the dark until the raid commenced.

How the Operation Unfolded

The crackdown was months in the making. The Special Task Force (STF) of West Bengal Police had shared multiple intelligence inputs about drug dealing in the area with the district police several days prior. Acting on those leads, Jalpaiguri police placed Sikdar under surveillance before deploying a large team to raid his rented residence at approximately 10 pm on Wednesday.

Initial searches yielded ₹8.39 lakh in cash and a small number of counterfeit notes — but not enough to confirm drug manufacturing. Police then called in the 46 Battalion of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), whose trained sniffer dog led investigators to approximately 67 grams of raw material used in the production of brown sugar, along with specialised white cloth and plastic packaging material typically associated with the drug's manufacture.

Who Was Arrested and Why

Ranjit Sikdar, a teacher at a local government high school in Jalpaiguri, is originally from Bamangola in Malda district. According to police, he had previously served a jail term in Malda for drug-related offences several years ago. Despite that record, he had been teaching at the school for many years, according to officials.

Dheeraj Mahato, a resident of the Pundibari area of Cooch Behar district, was arrested at the scene. Police suspect he had come to Sikdar's residence to purchase brown sugar, and that the ₹8.39 lakh recovered was connected to that intended transaction.

What the Police Said

District Superintendent of Police Sujata Kumari Veenapani told reporters: 'We had information from internal sources. We are investigating whether any big gang is working behind this or not.' Both accused are to be produced before the district court on Thursday, with police seeking remand for a full investigation.

Broader Context

The arrest underscores growing concerns about drug networks operating in the districts bordering Bangladesh and Bhutan in north Bengal, a corridor that law enforcement agencies have flagged as a transit route for narcotics. The involvement of a serving government teacher — and a prior convict — in alleged drug manufacturing adds a layer of institutional concern to what investigators are treating as a potentially larger supply chain. The fact that the STF flagged the case before the district police acted suggests inter-agency coordination is improving, though the scale of any gang network behind Sikdar remains under investigation.

Further investigation into the matter is ongoing, with police expected to seek additional custody time to trace possible supply chain links.