Two major recoveries of cash, ammunition and alleged government relief materials within 48 hours have triggered fresh political embarrassment for the ruling Trinamul Congress in North 24-Parganas, with police arresting a district-level party functionary and a municipal chairman in separate cases.
In the latest incident, police on Tuesday night arrested North 24-Parganas Zilla Parishad’s health and environment functionary Ajit Saha and his brother Sujit Kumar Saha after conducting raids at their residence in Machlandapur under Gobardanga police station limits. Police claimed to have recovered Rs 27 lakh in cash, 626 rounds of ammunition, 61 empty cartridges, a 7 mm pistol, an airgun and 52 bottles of foreign liquor from the house. Ajit Saha is considered close to former state minister Jyotipriya Mallick, and the arrest has sparked intense political speculation across the Habra-Machlandapur belt.
According to police sources, a lengthy search operation was conducted at the residence of the two brothers late on Tuesday night. Initially, investigators confirmed the recovery of a large amount of cash, but later disclosed that the seized amount exceeded Rs 27 lakh. Police are now probing the source of the money and the purpose for which it had allegedly been stored. Investigators said the accused failed to provide satisfactory explanations regarding the recovered cash, arms and ammunition. The seizure of such a large quantity of cartridges has particularly raised concern among investigators. The two brothers were produced before the Barasat court on Wednesday. Accused were given 10 days’ custody for further interrogation. Cases of extortion, intimidation and allegations linked to post-poll violence after the 2021 Assembly elections had earlier surfaced against the duo, sources added. While being taken to court, Sujit Saha alleged that he had been falsely implicated because of his association with the Trinamul Congress. Ajit Saha also made similar claims before the media.
The arrests came barely a day after police recovered several bags allegedly stuffed with cash from land adjacent to a Trinamul office in Baduria while investigating a separate case involving Baduria Municipality chairman Dipankar Bhattacharya. Bhattacharya was arrested from a hotel on Monday after police allegedly recovered nearly Rs 80 lakh in cash from his possession. A court on Tuesday remanded him to six days’ police custody. On Wednesday, police took the arrested municipal chairman to a plot near a Trinamul office and dug up a portion of land in a jute field, where several trolley bags and sacks filled with cash were allegedly recovered. Local residents who witnessed the operation claimed that four trolley bags and one sack were unearthed, each containing bundles of Rs 500 notes. Residents alleged that on the night of 24 May, government tarpaulin sheets were transported in vans to the Trinamul office and Bhattacharya’s office premises.
They informed Baduria police, but before officers reached the spot, Bhattacharya and his associates had allegedly fled. Police later found a large quantity of burnt documents outside the office premises. Subsequent searches at a nearby garden house reportedly led to the recovery of around 4,000 government relief tarpaulin sheets. Separate complaints against Bhattacharya have since been lodged by both the BJP and the CPI-M.