"Several persons" could be behind the arrested sub-assistant engineer of Bally Municipality from whose residence cash worth over Rs 24 crore and other valuables were seized, an Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) of West Bengal Police official said today.
A senior officer of ACB, which is investigating the case, said today the huge assets were accumulated allegedly by taking bribes from builders.
"It's quite impossible for one person to accumulate such huge assets. There must be several persons behind him who were equally benefited and were taking bribes. We are still unsure about who they are and their mode of operation, but it's not impossible that some big names are likely be involved in it," the ACB officer told PTI.
Acting on a complaint from a local builder the ACB sleuths arrested sub-assistant engineer Pronab Adhikary and his son Tanmoy on Friday night after assets were seized from his residence at Malipanchghara in Bally in Howrah district.
It was learnt that ACB was likely to question the ex-chairman of Bally Municipality, which merged with Howrah Municipal Corporation two months ago, with whom Adhikary was allegedly "quite close".
"There can be money as well as documents related to other properties owned by Pranob hidden at some other places. We need time to grill him to unearth about this," he said.
ACB sleuths along with Pronab and his son visited his Bally residence yesterday and seized some "crucial files" regarding the case, he said.
Asked about the role of the 50-year-old engineer's son in the case and why the sleuths want to have him in their custody, the ACB officer said: "We have information that Tanmoy had helped his father in taking bribes. He at times acted as a carrier and also has helped his father in counting the money. So Tanmoy's involvement in the crime cannot be ruled out in the case."
Police alleged that Tanmoy, a final year engineering student, had caused "hindrances" during raid by its personnel to Adhikary's residence on Saturday.
"He (Tanmoy) had raised a hue and cry that attracted locals who even attacked one of our officers mistaking us for robbers. Two of our constables were badly injured and were admitted to a Liluah hospital," the officer said.
Stating that more time was needed to interrogate Pronab and Tanmoy, ACB today appealed for a 12-day police custody when the duo were produced before a city sessions court.
Judge Sanchita Sarkar remanded the father-son duo to 11-day police custody till August 29.
ACB also appealed to the court to allow it to keep the money seized from Pranob's house in government custody.
