Kolkata, March 20 – The Kolkata Police recovered a large sum of cash from the trunk of a vehicle in New Town, a northern suburb of Kolkata, on Friday.
Following instructions from the new Commissioner of the Kolkata Police, security arrangements have been tightened in the run-up to the Assembly elections. This includes increased "nakabandi" (roadside checking) arrangements at key intersections within and around the city, which fall under the jurisdiction of the city police.
A senior city police official stated that in the morning, a vehicle was stopped by police personnel at a check-post near City Centre-II in New Town. Apart from the driver, identified as Suresh Thakur, no other person was in the vehicle.
It is learned that the driver was hesitant when the police asked him to open the trunk of the vehicle. After being persuaded, he opened it, and the police found a bag inside. After opening the bag, the police found that it was filled with bundles of cash, all in 500 rupee denominations.
The police then began questioning the driver about the source of the money. However, when he was unable to provide a satisfactory answer, the police seized the cash and arrested the driver.
He is now being questioned about the owner, who is trying to trace the source of the money and identify the beneficiary, the city police official said. The total amount of cash seized from the bag was Rs 25 lakh.
This is the third major cash recovery in West Bengal this week.
Earlier, on March 19, the police recovered a total of Rs 11.75 lakh during similar "nakabandi" at two different locations: the first being at Baruipur in the South 24 Parganas district, and the second being at Alipurduar Chowpatty Crossing in the Alipurduar district.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has already appointed 294 general observers for the state, sensing the potential use of illegal cash to influence voters in the forthcoming polls. This makes West Bengal the only one of the five states and one union territory that will be holding elections, to have one general observer for each of the 294 Assembly constituencies.
In addition, the ECI has also appointed 188 police observers, the highest among these five states and one union territory, and 100 expenditure observers, the second-highest on this count.