West Bengal Police has frozen three bank accounts of Trinamool Congress worth about Rs 440 crore. This action has been taken following complaints from rebel party MLAs, who alleged that this money may have been earned through corruption, atrocities and illegal activities. The amount frozen in three accounts of HDFC Bank is Rs 440 crore.
Police implemented a “debit freeze”, which means withdrawals and outgoing transactions are blocked, but credit can continue to come in. The complaint was lodged at the Bidhannagar cyber police station, and the accounts were frozen late Friday evening.
How did the complaint come to light?
A two-stage complaint process was adopted for freezing. First of all TMC Arup Biswas, former treasurer of ICICI Bank and Sports, Youth Affairs and Electricity Minister of West Bengal, contacted the bank manager and requested to freeze the account. He expressed concern over the possibility of unused or blank checks bearing his signature being misused and warned that the party’s deposits of more than Rs 500 crore should not be operated until the leadership dispute is resolved.
Following this, a group of 10 MLAs led by Biswanath Das from Jaynagar lodged a complaint at the Bidhannagar cyber police station on Thursday night, demanding an FIR and a detailed investigation into the source of funds.
What were the allegations made in the police complaint?
The complaint of the rebel MLAs states that some funds, which have allegedly come from illegal activities such as misuse of influence, dishonest financial dealing and wrong collection of money, may have been sent and deposited in these bank accounts. This pattern raises reasonable suspicions that digital platforms and online banking may have been used to help conceal transfers and earnings. The MLAs specifically raised questions about whether the funds came from cut-money collection, diversion of public funds or scams.
Internal fight started in TMC
This ban has further intensified the internal fight going on within TMC. This political battle started after TMC’s defeat in the recent assembly elections, with both groups competing for control over the party’s organization and finances.
Meanwhile, MLA Kunal Ghosh, loyal to former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, made it clear that Arup Biswas is no longer on the post of Treasurer. Arup Biswas was once the treasurer of the party, but at the executive committee meeting held on 5 June, it was unanimously decided that Subhashish Chakraborty would be the treasurer, and he has been holding the responsibility ever since.
This controversy started a few days after the release of the audit report of the TMC party, which revealed that the party’s assets have exceeded Rs 625 crore. This financial disclosure has further fueled the internal fight between groups regarding fund management.
Meanwhile, a senior police officer told PTI that all three account debits have been frozen, which means withdrawals or outgoing transactions cannot be done, although credits can keep coming. The bank told the investigators that Rs 440 crore were deposited in the three accounts which are being investigated.
Rebels now eye TMC’s funds
Now that all three account debits have been frozen, TMC’s internal fight over finances has turned from a fight over control into a major conflict. This complaint was filed in the same cyber crime station, which was investigating the FIR against Arup Biswas in connection with the irregularities that occurred during the visit of Argentine football icon Lionel Messi to Kolkata.
Union Minister Sukant Majumdar alleged that such a huge fund of Rs 5000 crore+ is handled by humans. Now it is the duty of ECI to evaluate the fund. If the audit has been done then there should be no fear, but who has taken responsibility of the fund, who has taken the Katmani, what is included in the fund, it should be investigated.
At the same time, TMC Kunal Ghosh said that the party is 28 years old, a lot of donations have come to the party. All sources should be investigated, but I want to ask, from where did Ritabrata and the election contesting group take the funds….is it from this Rs. 440 crores? If they have taken money from this election fund, why don’t they return it?
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