The West Bengal Police on Friday froze 12 more bank accounts of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC), a day after the party was allowed to partially operate three accounts with an alleged corpus of Rs 440 crore.
Senior police officers said the 12 newly frozen accounts span multiple public and private sector banks. A total of 15 TMC bank accounts, with alleged deposits of about Rs 1,000 crore, have been frozen so far. The police have sought details of the account holders and the financial transactions recorded in those accounts, sources said.
The move comes a day after the Calcutta High Court permitted the TMC to partially operate three HDFC accounts, appointing retired Justice Subrata Talukdar as special officer till September 30. Under the interim order, the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC can use the funds only for day-to-day administrative expenses, staff salaries, and legal costs through cheques countersigned by the special officer, who will receive an honorarium of Rs 1.25 lakh per month from the party’s funds.
The Mamata Banerjee-led faction had moved the High Court seeking its immediate intervention after three of its party accounts were frozen by the police.
Following the party’s defeat in the Assembly polls, the rebel group of TMC MLAs and leaders had asked the bank to freeze the party’s accounts, citing “serious dispute” within the organisation.
The rebels also complained to the cybercrime unit of the Bidhannagar police, seeking a probe into the source of the funds. A day later, the police registered an FIR and launched an investigation.
The TMC has yet to access the alleged Rs 440 crore corpus as the Enforcement Directorate has also frozen the three accounts under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The TMC moved the Calcutta High Court on Friday, challenging the ED order. Senior advocate Kishore Datta sought an urgent hearing before Justice Krishna Rao, submitting that while Justice Saugata Bhattacharya’s order dealt with the police action in the predicate offence, the fresh petition challenges the ED’s action under the PMLA. The matter will be heard on Monday.
The ED had frozen the same three accounts in connection with its probe into an alleged Rs 160 crore money laundering case involving a private aviation firm and the purchase of an Embraer business jet and an Agusta helicopter.