12 crore Bhatpara Cooperative Bank scam whistle-blower questions Guv's action
Kolkata: Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar has seemingly drawn himself into another controversy after he tweeted in connection to the alleged Bhatpara Naihati Cooperative Bank scam involving BJP MP Arjun Singh's kin who is, allegedly, accused of the financial scam that took place in 2017, the complainant of the case has, however, confronted him by narrating the case.
A few days ago Barrackpore City Police served two notices to Arjun's family members identified as Nitu Singh and Sarjeet Singh asking them to appear at the Detective Department's office on Monday at 11 am. After serving the notices, Dhankhar tweeted that amidst the present situation, such kind of action is serious enough and he asked the Chief Secretary for updates on the matter. The Governor also wrote, 'The State, involved with Covid-19 combat, can ill afford such developments.'
Though police served the notices, none of the persons appeared befopre police on Monday. "No one has appeared. We are looking into the legal aspects to act against them further," said Ajay Thakur, Joint Commissioner of Police (Jt CP), North Zone of Barrackpore City Police.
Replying to Dhankhar's tweet, the complainant of the case identified as Somnath Shyam tweeted and requested the Governor to maintain constitutional spirit and dignity of his office. Shyam also expressed his hope that Dhankhar will ensure a free and fair investigation of the case. Apart from tweeting, Shyam has uploaded the complaint he lodged that shows details of those who have been granted loan based on alleged fake work orders. According to the complaint, when Arjun was the Chairman of Bhatpara Municipality a tripartite agreement was done and work orders were given to several people and firms. Despite that the works were not executed, the money was paid by the bank without any background check or scrutiny.
It is alleged that the irregularity was planned and Arjun is the mastermind of the whole thing. Huge amount of public money has been misappropriated as some of the borrowers had no good credentials for obtaining a loan.
Shyam further informed that loan was disbursed to a company styled as Kashi Viswanath Infratec which is owned by a Bhatpara Municipality employee identified as Tumpa Singha Roy. Moreover, loans were disbursed to few other companies styled as Ali Enterprise, M/S Om Enterprise, Tirupati Balaji Property and Kanchan Construction which had no credential to obtain such huge amount. So far police have found that the misappropriated amount is around Rs 12 crore.
Shyam further alleged that to disburse the loans, the bank did not even asked the Bhatpara Municipality for any utilisation certificate and made full payment. The bank authority had opened multiple loan accounts against a single borrower.
