Bundles of termite-infested ₹100 and ₹500 notes stashed inside two trolley bags tumbled out of the students’ union room at Surendranath College in Sealdah during an anti-mosquito drive on Tuesday afternoon.
While there was no official estimate of the amount recovered, separate claims put the figure at several lakhs.
A cash haul from a college union room is rare, even by Bengal’s bizarre political standards.
A team from nearby Muchipara police station reached the 142-year-old institution and seized the bags. An investigation has begun to trace the source of the money.
Police said they received information about the discovery around 5.50pm.
“Two trolley bags loaded with damaged and soiled ₹100 and ₹500 notes were found inside a storeroom in the backyard of Surendranath College while college staff, in the presence of the principals of Surendranath Day and Evening College, were cleaning the premises ahead of the monsoon,” said Kolkata Police joint commissioner (crime) Soma Das Mitra.
Established in 1884 as Ripon College, Surendranath College was renamed in 1948.
Teacher-in-charge Purnendu Prakash Pal said late on Tuesday that the money had been found in the staff quarters at the rear of the college building. He said that a
firearm wrapped in a black polythene bag had been found inside the students’ union room.
Officials of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) were at the college as part of a pre-monsoon cleaning drive when they found the room adjoining the college gym locked.
The KMC team sought permission from the college to enter the room. Since the keys were not immediately available, the padlock was broken open, a college source said.
“After entering the room, the KMC staff found the bags inside an almirah,” a senior police officer said.
The bags appeared dirty and seemed untouched for a long time. “When they were opened, the notes were found to be soiled and partially eaten by termites,” the officer said.
A section of the college staff said students’ union elections had not been held for years and the union room had remained locked following a Calcutta High Court order in July 2025.
Apart from the almirah, the room contained several documents, files and cutouts of former chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee.
In many colleges across the state, Trinamool-backed student leaders continued to control union rooms in the absence of fresh campus elections.
A division bench of Calcutta High Court had ordered union rooms shut while hearing a petition challenging the Mamata Banerjee government’s decision not to hold campus elections in state-aided colleges and universities since 2019.
The cash discovery came within a fortnight of BJP MLA Sajal Ghosh writing to chief minister Suvendu Adhikari alleging that the Surendranath students’ union had collected several crores and still retained over ₹1.5 crore.
Students’ donations of ₹50 to ₹100 could not have generated such a large “function fund”, Ghosh had alleged.
“Just imagine how much money one can have that their money is now being feasted upon by termites? What else is left for us to witness?” Ghosh said on Tuesday.
He alleged the money was linked to an “admission racket” at the college.
When contacted, Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad secretary Trianankur Bhattacharya declined comment.
“The Trinamool student supporters on the campus have disappeared since May 4. We are trying to contact them to find out the source of the money,” a college official said.