Two former gram pradhans of a Trinamul Congress-run panchayat in Murshidabad’s Suti were arrested on Sunday night for allegedly embezzling ₹2 crore of government funds during their tenure from 2020 to 2023.
A senior police officer said the two former chiefs of Bahutali gram panchayat and TMC leaders — Abdul Sheikh and Sumani Mandal — were arrested from their homes on Sunday night.
They were produced in a Jangipur court on Monday that remanded them in seven days of judicial custody.
Sheikh’s wife and Trinamool leader Waheeda Khatun is the present chief of the Bahutali gram panchayat.
A police officer said that in 2020, this particular gram panchayat received about ₹2 crore from the 15th Finance Commission for the area’s development.
When the rural body received the development fund, Sheikh was its panchayat chief.
The police officer said that after the money arrived, the TMC faction that was opposed to Sheikh moved a no-trust motion against him in mid-2020.
When Sheikh was defeated, Mandal became the head. She ran the panchayat till 2023.
After taking over, Mandal complained to the Suti BDO-1 that Sheikh had embezzled about ₹2.28 crore that the panchayat had received from the 15th Finance Commission.
The BDO sent the complaint to the district magistrate. The DM carried out a probe and found the involvement of both Sheikh and Mandal in the embezzlement.
He ordered an FIR against them.
After the FIR was lodged, Sheikh’s wife moved Calcutta High Court, which ordered a probe under its supervision. The probe found panchayat secretary Ashok Kumar Ghosh guilty.
Ghosh was arrested two months ago. During his interrogation the names of Sheikh and Mandal again cropped up.
The police arrested them on Sunday night.
BDO Suti-1 Arup Saha said: “About ₹2 crore was embezzled from the fund sent by the 15th Finance Commission. On December 22, 2023, I filed an FIR against Ashok Kumar Ghosh, secretary of the Bahutali gram panchayat, at Suti police station. While interrogating Ghosh, the names of these two former panchayat chiefs came up.”
Sheikh claimed innocence and said he was a victim of the TMC’s factionalism.
Trinamul Congress Jangipur organisational district chairperson and MLA Zakir Hossain said: “No one is above the law. The administration has taken legal action and I have nothing to say.”
Jangipur police chief P.D. Ananda Roy said: “As per the BDO’s complaint, the police have arrested a panchayat employee and those whose names came up after questioning him.”