3 Jharkhand Congress MLAs held in West Bengal with cash worth over Rs 48L, suspended
Photo: IANS
Kolkata | The Congress on Sunday suspended three party MLAs after West Bengal police found huge amount of cash in their vehicle on Saturday.
Party General Secretary and in-charge of Jharkhand, Avinash Pandey said, “Congress party’s top leadership has taken the decision of suspending these three MLAs after huge cash was found in their vehicle.”
Three Congress MLAs from Jharkhand were detained in West Bengal’s Howrah district by the police after cash worth more than 48 lakh was seized from a vehicle in which all of them were travelling.
The vehicle belonged to one of the three Congress legislators who was arrested on Saturday evening along with the other two party MLAs.
“Huge Cash” recovered from a vehicle in which @INCJharkhand MLA’s – Irfan Ansari (Jamtara), Rajesh Kachhap (Khijri) & Naman Bixal (Kolebira) were travelling in #Howrah !!
Mr. @adhirrcinc will you care to comment?? Was the money for another ‘Operation Lotus”?? @dir_ed plz NOTE !! pic.twitter.com/Ft7COs8uDW
— ???? ????? (@DrRijuDutta_TMC) July 30, 2022
The three detained Congress MLAs — Irfan Ansari from Jamtara Assembly constituency, Rajesh Kacchap from Khijri (Scheduled Tribe) Assembly constituency and Naman Bixal Kongari from Kolebira (Scheduled Tribe) Assembly constituency — have told the police that the cash was meant for purchasing sarees from the renowned wholesale market at Burrabazar in central Kolkata.
Howrah Rural Police sources said that all the three Congress MLAs claimed that they represent tribal-dominated constituencies in Jharkhand, especially Khijri and Kolebira.
“They (Congress MLAs) informed us that they wanted to purchase sarees in large quantities from Burrabazar wholesale market for the purpose of distribution in their respective constituencies on the occasion of the forthcoming World Tribal Day on August 9, 2022,” said an official of the Howrah Rural Police.
#BREAKING Wads of cash recovered from the vehicle of sitting #Congress MLA from #Jharkhand. Vehicle belongs to Irfan Ansari, MLA #Jamtara. He himself & 2 more congress MLAs – Rajesh Kachhap & Naman Bixal Kongari were travelling to Jharkhand when Howrah police intercepted the car. pic.twitter.com/rerct6Kiip
— Tamal Saha (@Tamal0401) July 30, 2022
The three MLAs also claimed that they also wanted to use the opportunity of coming to West Bengal to make a pleasure trip to the sea-side resort village of Mandarmani in West Bengal’s east Midnapore district.
However, the interrogating police officers are not satisfied with the explanations given by the three MLAs since they were unable to produce any documents to establish the source of the money seized from the vehicle.
Earlier, the the Congress has alleged that ‘operation lotus’ stands exposed, which is meant to topple the alliance governments in the state.
The Congress has sought a report from its state unit.
“The game plan of ‘Hum Do’ in Delhi is to do in Jharkhand what they did in Maharashtra by installing E-D duo,” tweeted Jairam Ramesh.
Reacting to the arrest of the three Congress legislators late Saturday evening, the West Bengal Congress President and Lok Sabha MP, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that if the three party MLAs from Jharkhand are proved to be involved in any illegal activities, then they must be punished and the Congress leadership will not shield them.
IANS
The English Post is on Telegram, click to join for regular news update
SPONSORED CONTENT
