3 TMC bank accounts frozen

Three private bank accounts of India’s Trinamool Congress, holding around Rs 440 crore, have been placed under a debit freeze amid an internal party dispute following its recent electoral setback in West Bengal.

A senior police official in Bidhannagar said on Saturday that debit operations in the accounts had been suspended. This means money can be deposited into the accounts, but no funds can be withdrawn or transferred.

The move came after a group of rebel TMC legislators lodged a complaint with the Bidhannagar Cyber Crime Police Station, questioning the source of the money deposited in the accounts.

According to the complaint, the lawmakers alleged that the funds may have been accumulated through cut money, misuse of government funds or other illegal means. One of the complainants claimed that money obtained through abuse of power and improper channels had been routed into the party accounts.

The financial dispute surfaced as two factions of the party intensified their battle over organisational and financial control after the assembly election defeat. One faction is reportedly aligned with former minister Aroop Biswas, while the other is led by Leader of the Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee.

Aroop Biswas had earlier written to bank authorities, requesting them to safeguard more than Rs 500 crore in party deposits and suspend transactions until the internal crisis was resolved. However, following the complaint by rebel lawmakers, the matter has now come under police investigation.

A senior MLA loyal to Mamata Banerjee said they had heard about the police action but had not yet received any official notice.

TMC leader Kunal Ghosh, meanwhile, said Aroop Biswas was no longer the party treasurer. He said Subhashish Chakraborty was appointed as the new treasurer at the party’s executive committee meeting on June 5, and Biswas no longer had authority over financial matters.

Political observers say the freeze on the three accounts could make it difficult for the TMC to manage daily expenses and continue organisational activities. The party’s internal power struggle has now moved beyond politics and entered the sphere of police investigation and legal complications.