A group of depositors have raised concerns about money laundering at their local post office in Jalpaiguri. On Wednesday, the depositors approached the Superintendent of Posts of Jalpaiguri with the demand of refund.
Assistant Senior Post Master Officer Niladri Basak confirmed the receipt of a written complaint and assured that a comprehensive investigation will be conducted. The complaint estimates an alleged embezzlement of around Rs 1 crore. The postmaster against whom charges have been levelled allegedly committed suicide in June.
According to the depositors, approximately 150 individuals have fallen victim to the embezzlement by the Postmaster of the Menghora Sub Post Office in the Mantadri Gram Panchayat of Jalpaiguri Rajganj Block.
These depositors come from various backgrounds, including day labourers, tea garden workers and farmers. Residents of Menghora maintain savings account in this sub post office, where many also have fixed and term deposits. All these accounts were managed by the postmaster, Noor Islam.
Bijaya Roy Sarkar, a resident of the Lalitabari area of Mantadri Gram Panchayat, expressed grievances, saying: “I used to give my money to postmaster Noor Islam to deposit into my account. However, he would sometimes stamp a blank paper and occasionally hand over a slip instead. Additionally, the postmaster retained the passbooks of depositors. No suspicions arose until the postmaster tragically took his own life last June, revealing that the supposed account balances were missing.”
Bijaya Roy Sarkar alleges that the postmaster misused their money and engaged in gambling during cricket leagues.
Anita Roy, another depositor, shared a similar experience, stating: “I, too, deposited money as a tea worker at the post office. After making the deposits, the postmaster would provide a written record. In this manner, he had deposited Rs 60,000 into four accounts. However, when I checked my account, I found only Rs 4,000 remaining.”