A precautionary move by Aroop Biswas, the ex-treasurer of the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC, has led to the police placing three bank accounts linked to the party—worth about ₹440 crore—under a "debit freeze".
This is one of the latest twists in the row over Mamata's TMC and the rebel bloc of TMC MLAs, often dubbed the "real TMC".
As a result, withdrawals will not be possible with these bank accounts, which is expected to impact Mamata's TMC, that is already reeling from the exodus of its MLAs and MPs. It is not clear if incoming deposits have been blocked as well.
How the bank accounts got frozen
The issue reportedly began after Biswas on June 18 wrote a letter to the private bank, urging them to restrict the accounts due to uncertainty over their ownership after the split in the party.
The two-page letter, addressed to the manager of the bank’s Central Plaza branch in Kolkata as the "party treasurer", made rounds on social media as well, as per an NDTV report.
"In order to safeguard the funds of the organisation ... I request your good office to maintain status quo and refrain from permitting any debit transactions or changes in operational mandates in respect of the following account," he wrote in the letter, alleging that the funds in those accounts may be misused.
However, Mamata's party raised its voice against the letter, with loyalist Kunal Ghosh claiming that Biswas had been replaced as treasurer by Subhashish Chakraborty on June 5 itself, as per the report.
Ritabrata Banerjee—who led the rebel bloc of 60 MLAs out of the TMC earlier this month—was quick to respond to the letter, backing Biswas, and alleging that the accounts may have cut-money, and should be thoroughly investigated.
This led to a group of 10 rebel MLAs filing a complaint at the Bidhan Nagar South Police Station on Friday night.
The MLAs sought an FIR and a detailed probe into the movement and the origin of the funds held in the accounts, questioning whether the deposits were linked to alleged unlawful activities.
