Agartala, Sep 23: Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on Tuesday informed the Assembly that a nationalised bank has assured the return of the entire ₹16.38 crore illegally withdrawn from the Agartala Municipal Corporation’s (AMC) bank account using cloned cheques.
Replying to questions from MLAs, Saha clarified that the AMC was not at fault since the original cheques remain in its custody. The fraudulent withdrawals were made through six counterfeit cheques, allegedly by fraudsters from outside the state. One cashier of UCO Bank’s Agartala branch was arrested last week in connection with the case.
The scam sparked strong criticism from opposition parties, including the CPI(M) and the Congress, who demanded a probe by a central agency. Tripura Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President Asish Kumar Saha urged the Chief Minister to ensure a proper and impartial inquiry. He alleged that the bank had cleared the cheques after “verification of signatures,” and revealed that the money was initially dispersed to 78 accounts before being funneled into two accounts belonging to individuals based in Delhi and Nagpur.
In response, the state government constituted a four-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the case. The SIT is headed by West Tripura Additional Superintendent of Police (Urban), Dhruba Nath, with SDPO Sadar Deba Prasad Roy, Inspector Rana Chatterjee, and SI Ranjit Das as members. The team will submit its findings to West Tripura SP Namit Pathak.
The case was lodged after UCO Bank’s Zonal Manager Sanjib Roy reported the fraudulent withdrawals to the West Agartala police station. Preliminary investigation suggests the fraudsters, allegedly operating from Hyderabad, forged the signature of a former AMC officer.
Saha assured the House that the culprits would be nabbed and accountability fixed.
