A massive police operation in the Birbhum district in West Bengal has sent shock waves through the state’s political and administrative circles. Some ₹28.5 crore in unaccounted cash and 15 kilograms of gold bars worth about ₹2 crore were seized in a residential property in Deucha village, the police said. The operation was conducted under the jurisdiction of Mohammad Bazar police station and a long-term search for the missing currency took place over 20 hours; cash counting machines were used to process the huge quantity of recovered money.
The source of wealth and the absconding link. Senior officials said the searched premises belonged to Minar Mondal, a retired government bus driver who worked for the North Bengal State Transport Corporation before quitting in 2017. Minar, who makes only ₹35,000 a month, was promptly arrested for questioning. In the initial questioning he maintained that the hidden fortune did not belong to him and the money was stored in the house of his brother-in-law Tulu Mondal alias Mohd Nazibuddin.
Tulu Mondal is a notorious figure with a chaotic past and has already been arrested in a 2012 murder case, and federal agencies are already investigating whether he was in cahoots with illegal stone, sand and coal businesses in the region. Tulu Mondal has already obtained bail in past court cases, but he’s been evading authorities and has gone missing since May. Police suspect he ran a vast network of dumper trucks that were used for illegal mining operations and managed several local toll booths with Minar Mondal reportedly overseeing one of them.
Political Fallout and Intensified Scrimmages. The huge seizure has triggered an intense political firestorm across West Bengal. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari also praised the precision of the Birbhum police operation on social media and stressed that his administration will never give up on corruption and illegal syndicates. According to the government, public resources plundered by criminal networks would be recovered and no individual associated with illegal wealth extraction will be granted immunity.
The controversy has exacerbated existing political rifts and has made connections between the seized assets and some of the local leaders. Tulu Mondal has long been close to the local political heavyweights, including people involved in high-profile legal battles over cattle smuggling and revenue misappropriation. Local opposition groups and ruling party voices have pushed for tough investigations to track down all the beneficiaries of the syndicate but law enforcement authorities continue to pursue investigations to get rid of all the remaining layers of the illegal mining mafia in Birbhum.
