Howrah: Three Jharkhand Congress MLAs were arrested after a huge amount of cash was recovered from a car in which the legislators were travelling in West Bengal's Howrah district on Saturday. The three in question have been identified as Irfan Ansari, Rajesh Kachhap, and Naman Bixal. Howrah SP Swati Bhangalia said the exact amount has not been determined yet, noting that counting machines were being brought to the spot.
The car was stopped late on Saturday night near Ranihati More area under Panchla Police Station area in Howrah. Speaking to the media, Bhangalia said, "We had received inputs that such huge quantities of cash were being transported via a vehicle. Based on this, we intercepted this car. There are three Jharkhand MLAs who are associated with this.
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We are arranging for a counting machine to determine exactly how much money is there. The MLAs are in the car, and have been identified via their IDs." She further noted that the three would be probed to know how they got hold of the cash pile. While Ansari represents Congress in the Jamtara constituency, Kacchap and Bixal, respectively, are legislators from the state's Khijri and Kolebira seats.
"Ever since their Govt came to power, corruption is on a rise. Earlier too, large amounts of cash were caught in Jharkhand-at officers' homes. They use public's hard-earned income for other purposes. Police caught them and it came to light," BJP Jharkhand General Secretary Aditya Sahu said, reacting to the incident.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on Twitter, "The BJP's 'Operation Lotus' in Jharkhand stands exposed tonight in Howrah. The game plan of 'Hum Do' in Delhi is to do in Jharkhand what they did in Maharashtra by installing E-D duo."
