Kolkata, May 30 (IANS) Birbhum district police in West Bengal on Saturday said a large amount of unaccounted cash and gold was recovered during a search operation from the residence of an absconding Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader accused of illegal sand mining.

An officer from Birbhum district said that unaccounted cash of Rs 49.75 lakh has been recovered from the residence of the absconding Trinamool Congress leader, Laban Sheikh. “The police team has also recovered 503 grams of gold ornaments from his residence. Laban’s business partner, Shamim Sheikh, has been taken into custody by the police,” Birbhum district police said.

Sohail Sheikh, another business partner of Laban, is also absconding. Police are tracking both Laban Sheikh and Sohail Sheikh, and all the police stations in the district have been put on alert.

It is learnt that, besides being involved in illegal sand mining, quite rampant in Birbhum district, the three accused were also engaged in road construction contracting.

All of them were close confidants of the former Birbhum district president of Trinamool Congress, Anubrata Mondal, once considered the final word in the Birbhum district.

Meanwhile, in another development, the cops of Basirhat Police District in North 24 Parganas district have arrested Gopal Das, Trinamool Congress councilor from ward number 21 of Basirhat Municipality, on charges of extorting money from local people, promising them to make arrangements for houses under “Banglar Bari”, the West Bengal government’s housing scheme introduced by the Mamata Banerjee government.

The local people alleged that, though several people paid cash to Das, many of them did not receive money for houses under the scheme. Recently, local residents, who were allegedly cheated by Das, staged a protest demonstration in front of his residence.

In another development, the cops of Baruipur Police District in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, early Saturday morning, arrested Barun Sarkar, Trinamool Congress councillor from ward number 32 of Rajpur-Sonarpur Municipality in the district. He was caught red-handed while stealing fish from a local fishery.

Sarkar was caught by the local residents, but was later handed over to the police.

–IANS

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