The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) will suspend the assistant engineer who was arrested on Friday for amassing assets disproportionate to his income.

The action was taken after the civic body received a letter from the state’s anti-corruption branch on Saturday informing it about the engineer’s arrest, a KMC official said.

The letter mentioned that Partha Chongdar, the arrested engineer, will remain in police custody for seven days.

A KMC official said any state government employee who remains in police or judicial custody for more than 48 hours is put under suspension. “During suspension, the accused is entitled to only 75 per cent of total salary,” the official said.

Officers of the state police’s anti-corruption branch (ACB) that arrested Chongdar said on Saturday that they were trying to trace deposits made in several bank accounts, allegedly in Chongdar’s name or that of his close relatives, between 2017 and 2021, and identify those who had agreed to allegedly pay the engineer the amount.

“We are trying to find out some of those who allegedly paid hefty amounts to the accused person and identify why he was paid,” said a senior officer of ACB.

On Friday, ACB officers said that Chongdar had allegedly amassed wealth and assets worth nearly ₹6 crore. The ACB also allegedly found multiple bank accounts in the name of Chongdar’s relatives, where he is suspected of having parked his ill-gotten money.

The officer added that Chongdar used to invest money in a real estate company named after his wife. He also made multiple foreign trips between 2017 and 2021. He has 734 grams of gold in a bank locker.

On Saturday, ACB officers said they were examining details of some of Chongdar’s bank transactions over the last few years to understand the source of the money.

“The idea is to establish the money trail...” the officer said.

KMC officials added that the civic body had initiated disciplinary proceedings against Chongdar long ago, but did not take any action against him because the police were already probing allegations of corruption against him. Moreover, Chongdar had
also moved Calcutta High Court.

“The high court asked us to go ahead with our inquiry but not to take any action against him till the court gave its nod,” said the official.

Chongdar was posted in KMC’s planning and development department, which has its office in the KMC headquarters, at the time of his arrest. His name featured on KMC’s website as an employee of the department.

Chongdar joined KMC as a sub-assistant engineer in 1997. He was later promoted to assistant engineer.

He was already under the scanner, sources said.

The KMC started departmental proceedings against him in 2021 when he was posted in the mechanical (asphaltum) department.

An accused may not may not be taken back into service after bail, depending on the available evidence against the person and the gravity of the allegations.

“These are decisions taken by the authorities of an institution on a case-by-case basis,” said the official.