Bhattacharya after the interrogation in Siliguri on Monday. (Kundan Yolmo)

Aug. 5: The Siliguri metropolitan police today interrogated local Trinamul MLA and former Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority chairman Rudranath Bhattacharya and Jalpaiguri district Trinamul president Chandan Bhowmik in connection with the Rs 60 crore-scam reported at the development body earlier this year.

Bhattacharya and Bhowmik are both board members of the SJDA.

On May 16, CEO of the SJDA, Sharad Dwivedi, had filed a complaint with Pradhannagar police alleging that government norms had been violated while paying a private construction firm for building three electric crematoriums and two sewerage treatment plants in Siliguri.

North Bengal development minister Gautam Deb, who took over as the SJDA chairman in March after Bhattacharya had stepped down, alleged that the private company was paid by the development body even before the constructions were complete.

“The payments were made although construction of the crematoriums and the sewerage treatment plants was not completed by the firm concerned,” Deb had said.

Another police complaint was filed on July 29 by the superintending engineer of the SJDA alleging anomalies in installing CCTV cameras across Siliguri.

Misappropriation of funds worth around Rs 10 crore was mentioned in the complaint.

“All these payments were made during Bhattacharya’s tenure as the SJDA chairman. The detective department (of the Siliguri metropolitan police) took up the case, conducted investigations and made some arrests of engineers of the SJDA as well as employees and owners of the private construction company concerned,” a senior police officer said.

Today, Bhattacharya and Bhowmik were interrogated for around two hours each.

“I had made it clear that I am ready to co-operate with the police and will provide them with all possible information. Accordingly, I gave them the necessary information that they sought from me today,” Bhattacharya said after the interrogation.

“It is my duty and responsibility to furnish all possible information with the police officers who are investigating the irregularities,” Bhowmik said today.

G. Kiran Kumar, the former CEO of the SJDA who is now the district magistrate of Malda, had been interrogated last week.

“We have also issued letters to other board (SJDA) members like Ranjan Silsharma and Shankar Malakar. They would be interrogated in the next couple of days,” said an investigating officer.

While Silsharma is a Trinamul councillor of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation and is a former deputy mayor, Malakar is the Darjeeling district Congress president and the Matigara-Naxalbari MLA.

So far, 10 people have been arrested, including three engineers of the SJDA, in connection with the scam.

The other seven arrested persons are either employees or owners of the private firms involved in the projects that are under the scanner.

K. Jayaraman, the commissioner of Siliguri metropolitan police, who is overseeing the case, said: “Investigations are on. Some people have been arrested and some others have been interrogated. We can interrogate some more people in case it is required for investigation.”