Bidhannagar police have sought five years of transaction records from a private bank for three accounts of the Trinamool Congress that collectively hold around ₹440 crore.
Senior officers of the cyber police station under the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate said the bank had been asked to provide transaction statements for the past five years, along with details of the origin and destination of all digital transactions linked to the accounts.
“The bank has also been asked to provide details of the names and identities of the authorised signatories operating these accounts, along with copies of the documents submitted to fulfil KYC (know your customer) requirements,” a senior officer said.
The move comes a day after a rebel Trinamool faction led by MLA Ritabrata Banerjee constituted a new national working committee and named former Trinamool minister Arup Roy as its chairperson, removing the party’s founding leader, Mamata Banerjee, from the post.
The police probe follows an FIR registered after a group of 10 MLAs led by Biswanath Das, who won on a Trinamool ticket from Joynagar in South 24-Parganas, lodged a complaint at the Bidhannagar cyber police station on Thursday, alleging that the funds could be ill-gotten.
The FIR was registered under sections relating to cheating, criminal breach of trust, criminal conspiracy, and offences categorised as “organised crime”.
On Friday, Ritabrata had said: “There are well-founded apprehensions that this is ill-gotten wealth. Money from corruption, cut-money, extortionary activities. This should be thoroughly probed and frozen... We want the government and agencies to look into it.”
Senior officers said the complaint does not mention the names associated with the three bank accounts.
A preliminary inquiry revealed that one account is in the name of the All India Trinamool Congress, while the other two are in the names of the party’s Tripura and Goa units.
Thursday’s police complaint came hours after Aroop Biswas, the former Trinamool MLA from Tollygunge, wrote to the private bank’s south Calcutta branch seeking a freeze on the party’s accounts, citing apprehensions of misuse.
Biswas, who served as the party’s treasurer until June 5 and was later replaced by former MP Subhasish Chakraborty, was among seven leaders expelled by the Trinamool on Tuesday for alleged anti-party activities.
Senior officers said that once they receive the bank’s response, they may call members of the rebel camp to record their statements regarding the complaint against the three accounts.
