KOLKATA: In yet another unusual incident involving a large cash recovery from an academic institution in West Bengal, Rs 1.77 crore in bundles of Rs 500, Rs 200 and Rs 100 notes was recovered from an English medium school in North 24 Parganas district on Thursday, days after a similar incident was reported from a state government-sponsored college in Kolkata on June 3.
Several packets of condoms were also seized from an almirah installed in the ‘sick room’ of the school at Foreman Colony in Kanchrapara, officials said.
Police have detained cashier Aveek Nath and assistant accountant Sayan Ghosh for interrogation in connection with the incident.
The recovery has triggered a political and public controversy in the locality, with parents and residents questioning how such a large amount of cash was kept inside the institution and what its source was.
Sudipta Das, who won the election from the Bijpur Assembly constituency on a BJP ticket, said he had begun preparing a data bank on academic institutions in his area and came across the English medium school in question.
Das, along with police personnel and central forces, reportedly visited the spot on Wednesday night and came across the large cash stash. He informed the local bank and requested that machines used for counting currency denominations be sent.
During overnight counting and verification, Rs 1.77 crore was found kept in a locked room for several months within the school premises.
The BJP MLA also alleged that the former chairman of the Kanchrapara Municipality, which was earlier ruled by the Trinamool Congress, allegedly kept the money inside a room of the school.
Bikashchandra Mondal, head teacher of the school, told the media that the money had been collected as tuition fees from students and had been lying stored in the room for several months. He added that the school authorities had planned to deposit the money in a local bank.
However, he could not clarify anything regarding the condoms seized from the almirah in the school.
On June 3, in the first such incident, bundles of termite-infested Rs 100 and Rs 500 notes stashed inside two trolley bags reportedly fell out of an alleged students’ union room at Surendranath College in Sealdah during an anti-mosquito drive.
While there was no official estimate of the amount recovered, separate claims suggested the figure ran into several lakhs.
A team from the nearby Muchipara police station reached the 142-year-old institution and seized the bags. An investigation was launched to trace the source of the money.
The cash was found in the staff quarters at the rear of the college building. A firearm wrapped in a black polythene bag was also found inside the students’ union room.
