Forward Bloc leader arrested on fraud charges in Birbhum

Kolkata: Forward Bloc leader Reboti Mohan Bhattacharya was arrested on alleged charges of helping a person get a loan of Rs 1 crore without "proper documents" from a cooperative bank at Suri in Birbhum.

Bhattacharya, who is the district committee president of the party and also a member of the state committee, was arrested on Tuesday night based on a complaint lodged with Suri police station.

He was the chairman of Birbhum Zilla Cooperative Bank till 2012. The present chairman of the bank, Nurul Islam, raised the allegation and based on the same the complaint was lodged with the police station.

It was alleged that Bhattacharya had used his influence to get the loan sanctioned for a person well known to him. There was also allegation of sanctioning the loan without properly going through the documents, which are essential to sanction a loan.

It has been learnt that the complaint was lodged after it was claimed that the present members of the cooperative bank have found out certain discrepancies while sanctioning the loan worth Rs 1 crore.

The police have initiated a probe in this connection, based on the allegations raised against Bhattacharya. They are also going through the documents in this connection and have taken the statement of the bank authorities as well.

The police will also speak to some more erstwhile members of the bank authorities in this connection. Other leaders of his party have, however, claimed that he had been framed.