The West Bengal Police announced that they found a total of Rs 2.24 crore in cash from four trolley bags and a sack unearthed from Dipankar Bhattacharya’s farmland. Bhattacharya, the chairman of Trinamool Congress-controlled Baduria Municipality, was apprehended on corruption charges last Monday. The recovered money, mainly in Rs 500 notes, was counted multiple times in the presence of bank officials to confirm the amount.
Officials disclosed that when Bhattacharya was detained at a hotel in Baduria, Rs 80 lakh in cash was confiscated from him. This brings the total cash seized from him to Rs 3.04 crore. Bhattacharya was presented before a district court on Tuesday and was remanded to police custody. Sources revealed that during questioning, Bhattacharya admitted to hiding more cash on his farmland.
The police, following the lead, took Bhattacharya to his farmland on Wednesday, where they dug up four trolley bags and a sack filled with cash. Allegations of corruption have long been directed at Bhattacharya, with previous recoveries including 4,000 government tarpaulins from a local Trinamool Congress office and a garden house owned by him. Two complaints were lodged against him by the CPI(M) and the BJP, leading to his arrest and the recovery of Rs 80 lakh in cash.
Now, concerns have surfaced regarding the source of Bhattacharya’s substantial cash holdings. He faces two corruption charges: receiving kickbacks for allotments under the state’s ‘Banglar Bari’ housing scheme introduced during the previous Trinamool Congress administration, and extorting local residents, particularly traders in Baduria.
