West Bengal: Police recovers huge amount of cash from stepney of luxury vehicle

West Bengal Police on Monday recovered a huge amount of cash worth Rs 94 lakh from the stepney of a luxury vehicle from north Bengal's Banarhat. Five persons have been arrested in this connection. The luxury vehicle, bearing a Bihar number plate, was intercepted by Jalpaiguri police near Banarhat.

The vehicle was on its way towards Alipurduar in the northern part of the state. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed that money was coming for BJP in Bengal, which should fight TMC politically instead.

Biswajit Mahato, Jalpaiguri Superintendent of Police, said, "Acting on a tip-off, we have recovered Rs 93.83 lakh from a vehicle. We have arrested five persons. We will interrogate the arrested person to trace the source of the money. The arrested persons, during primary quizzing told us that the money was for business purposes and they were taking it to Assam. However, there were no valid documents for such a huge amount of money."

Among the arrested persons, four were from Bihar while one from Bengal, police sources said. The final destination of the vehicle is under investigation. The money was recovered by police from the Binnaguri outpost under Banarahat police station. The huge amount of money, in wrapped black plastic packets, was hidden under the Stepney of the luxury vehicle, sources said.

Reacting to the incident, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said, "The money was coming for BJP. Money, goons and guns are brought from outside. I would request BJP leaders to fight us politically."

Manoj Tigga, BJP chief whip in the state assembly, said, "The money recovered is linked with Trinamool Congress's corruption and money earned through illegal means."