Civic body chief held, Rs 80 lakh cash, 4k tarpaulin sheets seized

Kolkata: Baduria Municipality chairman Dipankar Bhattacharya was arrested on Tuesday after police recovered about Rs 80 lakh in cash and around 4,000 tarpaulin sheets allegedly meant for disaster relief from a godown at his residence in Punra, in North 24-Parganas. He has been sent to police custody for six days.Police said the raid began Monday evening at properties linked to Bhattacharya. Investigators later found Rs 79.7 lakh in cash in what they described as a "secret hideout" connected to him. Three currency-counting machines were brought in to count the money.The case escalated after local residents reported seeing tarpaulin sheets being moved from Bhattacharya's office to another location on Monday night. Residents also alleged that govt documents were being piled up and burned outside the office. Locals alerted police, but by the time officers arrived, Bhattacharya and several associates had fled.Police then searched the chairman's party office and a garden house and recovered the tarpaulin sheets. A senior Basirhat district police official said the material appeared to have been stockpiled instead of being handed out to affected people.Two complaints were filed against Bhattacharya at Baduria PS. Later Monday night, police raided a computer centre next to his residence and recovered more cash.On Tuesday morning, Bhattacharya was finally arrested.