Kolkata, July 30: In a significant operation lasting nearly 24 hours in Birbhum district, West Bengal police arrested Meenar Mandal, a relative of stone quarry businessman Tulu Mandal, on Thursday. The raid began on Wednesday afternoon and led to the discovery of substantial cash and gold at Meenar Mandal’s residence.
To count the seized cash, police had to bring currency counting machines from a local bank. By Thursday morning, after completing the counting process, a member of the investigation team revealed that the total cash recovered exceeded ₹28 crore.
Additionally, police found 15 kilograms of gold at Meenar Mandal’s home, with an estimated market value of over ₹21 crore. The total estimated value of the seized cash and gold amounts to approximately ₹50 crore.
Meenar Mandal was formally arrested on Thursday morning and taken to a local police station, where authorities also confiscated two trunks filled with cash and gold from his residence. He is expected to be presented later in the day at the district court in Suri, where prosecutors will seek his police custody.
Initially, Meenar Mandal refused to answer police inquiries regarding the source of such a large amount of cash and gold. However, he later admitted that the seized assets were linked to an organized crime syndicate, a claim confirmed by Birbhum Superintendent of Police Bidit Raj Bundesh.
According to police sources, seven robbers were arrested by the Mohammad Bazar police in Birbhum the previous Tuesday. Information obtained from these robbers led investigators to uncover the significant cache of cash and gold at Meenar Mandal’s home, prompting the raid that continued into Thursday morning.
Reportedly, Meenar Mandal was a bus driver for the state transport corporation, but local residents claim he was heavily involved in Tulu Mandal’s stone quarry business. Tulu Mandal is believed to be closely associated with Anuvrat Mandal, the former district president of the Trinamool Congress in Birbhum.
The discovery of such a large amount of cash and gold has left neighbors astonished. Tulu Mandal has previously faced allegations of illegal stone mining.
Leave a Comment