Suri (WB), Jul 29 (PTI) In one of the biggest recoveries of suspected illegally amassed cash and gold in West Bengal in recent times, the police on Wednesday seized at least Rs 20 crore in cash and 15 kg of gold from the property of a former government bus driver who later became a stone trader in West Bengal’s Birbhum district.
Police said they recovered 14 gold bars weighing one kilogram each and 10 gold biscuits of 100 grams each, valued at around Rs 21.5 crore at current market prices, from the two-storey residence of Minar Mondal at Deucha village.
The cash, packed inside multiple bags, was still being counted at the time of filing of this report and had already crossed Rs 20 crore, officers said.
Police identified Minar as the brother-in-law of absconding businessman Tullu Mondal alias Mohd Nazibuddin, who has substantial interests in Birbhum’s stone quarrying business and whom Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari described as an “sand mafia” operator.
The recovery comes amid a wider crackdown on alleged illegal mining and revenue leakages in Birbhum, a district long under the scanner over allegations of illegal quarrying and organised crime linked to the stone trade.
The haul brought back memories of the recovery of nearly Rs 50 crore in unaccounted cash, along with gold ornaments and foreign exchange, from properties linked to Arpita Mukherjee, a close aide of former West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee, during Enforcement Directorate raids in July 2022 tied to the school jobs recruitment scam in the state.
The visuals of ED haul had turned into a flashpoint in Bengal, leading to the arrest of Chatterjee, intensifying corruption allegations against the TMC and dominating the state’s political discourse for months.
Tullu had figured in the CBI’s probe into the multi-crore cattle smuggling case. In August 2022, the agency searched several of his properties, besides his office and godown in Mohammad Bazar area of the district. The Enforcement Directorate later summoned him to Delhi for questioning in November that year.
Within 48 hours of receiving the ED summons, Tullu was arrested by Birbhum police in connection with a murder case registered in October 2022. A police source claimed that after securing bail, he went into hiding following the declaration of the state election results in May this year.
Police said Tullu handled a significant portion of Birbhum’s stone trade and was allegedly a close associate of Birbhum Trinamool Congress chief Anubrata Mondal, who was arrested by the CBI in the cattle smuggling case and, after getting bail, has joined the Ritabrata Banerjee-led dissident faction within the party.
Minar and his son were detained at the house during the search operation and were being questioned about possible additional locations where cash could have been stored, police said.
“Minar was in charge of one of the seven toll gates in the area through which trucks from stone quarries passed and collected revenue from the transporters. He is likely to have swindled a large volume of cash meant for government coffers, and this is a portion of that wealth the police have now recovered,” a source said.
According to police, Minar was earlier employed as a driver with the North Bengal State Transport Corporation before quitting the job a few years ago to join his relative’s stone business.
Earlier in the day, highlighting what he termed “massive revenue leakage and illegal quarrying in the TMC era”, the chief minister cited official figures from Birbhum to claim a sharp rise in revenue collection following intensified enforcement after the BJP came to power in the state.
Adhikari said monthly collections from stone quarries under the previous administration were around Rs 35-40 lakh, while the current government collected Rs 83 crore between mid-May and mid-June.
The CM claimed that the erstwhile TMC government managed to collect a mere Rs 100 crore from the sector annually, and added that the leakage accounted for a loss of nearly Rs 1,100 crore to the state exchequer every year.
He said that the pilferage from just one mining sector caused an “economic disaster” in the state.
Against this backdrop, Adhikari said even the slightest loophole in revenue collection would not be tolerated and directed officials to ensure strict vigilance so that not a single rupee of public money was siphoned off.
Lauding Wednesday’s operation, he wrote on X: “Commendable job by our law enforcement personnel for the crackdown on sand mafia,” adding that the operation had resulted in the recovery of a large quantity of illegally amassed wealth.
Reiterating his government’s commitment to act against corruption and organised crime, he said the state would continue its drive with a “zero tolerance policy against corruption”.
“Let it be unequivocally clear: no person with a chequered past who has amassed wealth through the exploitation of public resources and hobnobbing with the then ruling political party will be spared,” he said.
Adhikari asserted that those involved in looting public resources would face the full force of the law and said the crackdown on mafia syndicates would continue.
He also commended the director general of police, the Birbhum superintendent of police and district police personnel for the success of the operation.
Responding to the development, Mamata Banerjee-aligned TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said while those responsible for such crimes should not be spared, the government should also investigate political leaders who had allegedly patronised such activities.
“I hear that those responsible for such crimes were closely linked to leaders who now brand themselves as ‘good Trinamool’. I will urge the government to delve deeper and identify those who shielded such criminals and benefited from their illegal earnings,” he said, without naming any leader. PTI SMY COR NN
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