Police on Wednesday recovered five sacks and a suitcase with more cash from a jute field, a day after the chairman of Baduria municipality in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district was arrested and ₹80 lakh in unaccounted cash along with calamity relief materials were seized during a raid, police said.
Counting of the money started in the evening at the Baduria police station, in the presence of senior police officers and employees from a bank. Central armed police force personnel were deployed around the police station.
Dipankar Bhattacharya was arrested after Tuesday’s raid, which led to the recovery of ₹80 lakh in unaccounted cash along with several tarpaulins and blankets that the former Trinamool Congress (TMC) government was allegedly supposed to distribute among people affected by natural calamities in Bengal. Relief materials are distributed through municipalities and panchayats.
“Bhattacharya said during interrogation that more cash was hidden underground in a jute field. The sacks and the suitcase recovered from the jute field were not opened until Wednesday afternoon,” a state police official said, requesting anonymity.
“The investigation against Bhattacharya started after several Baduria residents lodged complaints that he had taken bribes to the tune of ₹15-20 lakh from every beneficiary of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana housing scheme,” another police officer said.
After the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government was sworn in on May 9, police or federal agencies interrogated and arrested several TMC leaders in connection with various cases.
Former minister Sujit Bose was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on May 11 in connection with alleged corruption related to recruitment at the South Dum Dum municipality in North 24 Parganas district.
Dilip Mondal, the TMC legislator from South 24 Parganas district’s Bishnupur, was arrested from an Odisha hotel on Wednesday for threatening rival political parties in public after the assembly poll results were announced on May 4. His son, Arghya Mondal, was arrested with five others on May 18 on charges of possessing illegal firearms.
