Kolkata: Trinamool Congress leader and the main accused in the alleged brutal torture of two women in Gangarampur in West Bengal's South Dinajpur district was arrested on Thursday.

Amal Sarkar, panchayat upapradhan (deputy chief of the gram panchayat), was taken into custody by the police from near his house, taking the total number of arrests in the case to three.

A shocking video of the torture inflicted on the two women, one of them a teacher and BJP worker, had gone viral, drawing all-round condemnation.

According to the video, the teacher, Smritinaka Das, was seen bound by a rope to a pole at her knees and then hauled over a country road.

When another woman — the victim's elder sister Soma Das — came forward and protested, she was also flung onto the ground and tortured by Sarkar and three of his associates.

The BJP worker and her sister were rescued by the locals and admitted to a hospital. Smritikona Das sustained a head injury.

According to the two victims, they were tortured for protesting against the Trinamool-run panchayat for grabbing their land for building a road.