The following is what the police have recovered from Tulu Mondal, the main driving force of the Birbhum stone syndicate, and his brother-in-law Minar Mondal:
Cash and ornaments: Apart from the cash of Tk 28.5 crore 47 lakh and 15 kg of gold (with a total market value of around Tk 50 crore) recovered from Minar Mondal's hideout, another Tk 53 lakh cash, 268 grams of gold jewelry, 400 grams of silver and 23 grams of platinum jewelry were later found.
Account freeze: Since the discovery of the returning 'Stone Emperor' Tulu Mondal, his bank balance of Tk 93 crore has been identified and all accounts have been frozen.
Vehicles and property: A total of 242 vehicles, including BMW, Audi and 83 dumper trucks, have been seized as part of the royal luxury. Apart from this, a total of 21 immovable properties (totaling about 300 bighas) including 3 stone quarries, 2 crushers, 2 petrol pumps, 1 farmhouse, 7 large houses are being confiscated through legal process. One of the most popular novels of writer Shyamal Gangopadhyay was 'Kuberer Vishayaashay'! Even Kuber might be ashamed of what has been dug up in the soil of Birbhum in the last 48 hours. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari presented the balance sheet at a press conference in Nabanna on Friday afternoon. Documents and equipment: 3 cash counting machines, 1 computer, 2 pen drives and a large quantity of fake DCRs, road challans and check books have been recovered.
The Home Minister and Chief Minister thanked the Birbhum Superintendent of Police, the district police team and the DG of the state police for maintaining 24-hour surveillance for the success of the operation.
Highlighting the institutional corruption of the past, the Chief Minister said that earlier the annual revenue of the state government from the Birbhum Stone quarry was only 60 to 80 crores. However, in just one month (May 11 to June 11) after the new government took office, that income has increased to 83 crores, which is now touching the 100 crore mark.
The Chief Minister said, 'Even though 100 crores of rupees were deposited in the government accounts every year, about 1000 crores of rupees used to go out in the black market. In the last 15 years, at least 15,000 crores of rupees have been stolen from the state's stone quarry alone. If this huge amount had come to the government fund, more new hospitals would have been built, new school buildings would have been built, and lakhs of unemployed youth could have been employed.'
As an example of administrative rigor, he said that the new government has added 13.5 crores of rupees to the state treasury in one go by publicly auctioning the illegal sand left by Trinamool leaders in East Burdwan. In the context of this reshuffle of law and order and state administration, Shuvendu directly targeted former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. He said, it is not possible to buy 242 luxury cars or 300 bighas of land in a day. This system cannot run without the support of the registry office, motor vehicles, local panchayat, land department and a section of the mineral corporation.
The Chief Minister clearly stated, 'Such a big dishonest racket cannot run year after year without the consent of the Head of the Institution. 'Mr. Mandal is our man, don't look at him' - because there was such an order from the top level, the lower-level officials were forced to turn a blind eye. Therefore, the responsibility for this lies with the former Chief Minister.'
The Chief Minister said, a case has already been registered and the main accused Minar Mandal has been arrested. Besides, the police have detained and interrogated a total of 5 people including the chief accountant Pinaki Dey, assistant accountant Rakibul Islam and the petrol pump manager Kausar.
Technical assistance from central agencies, CID and STF is being sought to investigate whether the ill-gotten money has been laundered abroad, said Shuvendu. Stating that income tax and revenue have increased by 12% in the state in the last 10-11 weeks, the Chief Minister said that the state government's revenue collection will increase by at least 20% by the end of the current financial year.