Silchar, April 21: The Cachar district vigilance and monitoring committee will probe the Rs 1.43-crore zilla parishad scam in parallel to the present police investigation.

The chairman of the state government-appointed panel and former Union minister Kabindra Purakayastha, said he would call a meeting soon after his return from New Delhi, where he has gone for some party work. Purkayastha is the BJP MP from Silchar.

Two of the scam accused — Rezzad Ahmad Barbhuyan, an accountant of the parishad and Panna Das, a panchayat secretary — who were taken into custody by Cachar police on Friday night, were presented in court of the chief judicial magistrate Ramen Deka, who sent the duo to police remand for five days, for further investigation into the case.

The accused have been booked under Sections 120(b), 420, 471 and 406 of the IPC and also under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Cachar district superintendent of police, Diganta Bora, today denied reports in a section of the local press that the kingpin of the racket, the retired chief executive officer of Cachar zilla parishad Bahnisikha Dutta, who is now in Calcutta, was denied anticipatory bail by Gauhati High Court and her passport was impounded by the authorities.

Both the police and local court sources said Dutta would be summoned soon in connection with this case.

The scam centres on allegations that Dutta, a retired civil service official in the rank of an additional deputy commissioner, had masterminded the withdrawal of funds totalling Rs 1.43 crore from the account in a nationalised bank branch here for apparently executing some development projects in the zilla parishad area, including construction of community halls in rural areas.

Sources pointed out the official had flouted government rules for withdrawal of cash barring the payment for execution of the welfare schemes.