3 Jharkhand Congress MLAs caught with ₹49 lakh remanded in Bengal CID’s custody
The MLAs were questioned overnight at Panchla police station in Howrah. They were travelling in Ansari’s official vehicle. The driver and an aide of Ansari were also arrested and remanded in CID custody
The West Bengal police on Sunday arrested the three Congress legislators from Jharkhand who were detained on Saturday for carrying ₹49 lakh in cash in their SUV that was stopped in Howrah district, officials aware of the development said.
The case was handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department and a Howrah court remanded the legislators in CID’s custody for 10 days after they were produced in court in the afternoon.
Jamtara legislator Irfan Ansari, Rajesh Kachhap, legislator from Khijri, and Naman Bixal, MLA from Kolebira, were charged under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including criminal conspiracy, and sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act. It was found that they flew to Guwahati on Friday and returned to Kolkata on Saturday.
The MLAs were questioned overnight at Panchla police station in Howrah. They were travelling in Ansari’s official vehicle. The driver and an aide of Ansari were also arrested and remanded in CID custody.
Ansari’s lawyers argued before the court that the Bengal police charged the MLAs under IPC although source of income falls under the jurisdiction of the income tax department.
The legislators claimed that they brought the money from Jharkhand to buy sarees from the Burrabazar wholesale market in Kolkata for distribution at an upcoming tribal festival in their state.
State police officials said they stopped the SUV after being tipped off that a huge amount of cash was being transported in three vehicles. There was, however, no trace of any other vehicle, said an official.
The MLAs told the police that they were planning to spend Sunday at the beach town of Mandarmani in East Midnapore district and return to Kolkata on Monday for shopping.
“The probe however revealed that the trio took a Guwahati-bound flight on Friday and returned to Kolkata on Saturday hours before their detention. While Ansari claimed that he went to Assam to talk to a school administration for a student’s admission, the other two legislators did not have any plausible explanation to offer,” a Bengal police officer said on condition of anonymity.
“There were discrepancies in their statements as well,” the officer added.
The Assam connection triggered allegations of “horse trading” against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which was accused of hatching a plan to bring down the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-led coalition government.
Before the recent change in government in Maharashtra, a section of the ruling Shiv Sena legislators flew to Assam and camped at a star hotel in Guwahati.
“Why were these MLAs carrying so much cash and what was their destination? Only Congress can answer these questions because over the last few days it appears to have become an expert on cash recovery,” Trinamool Congress (TMC) state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said.
Ghosh indirectly referred to the July 23 arrest of then TMC minister Partha Chatterjee and his aide Arpita Mukherjee following the seizure of ₹21.90 crore from her south Kolkata apartment by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the alleged bribe-for-job scam. The probe has led to the discovery of more cash and assets.
“The TMC demands a thorough investigation. It is suspected that the Congress legislators were being used by the BJP to topple the Jharkhand government,” said Ghosh.
Countering Ghosh, Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar demanded an ED probe into the seizure of cash from Ansari’s car.