Tulu Mandal Case: Rs 220 Crore Seized, Another Arrest Made

A retired revenue official has been arrested in West Bengal's Birbhum district over alleged links with absconding stone mine owner Tulu Mandal, police said on Monday.

The arrest is linked to a continuing probe into illegal stone mining and the alleged accumulation of illegal assets.

Rabiul Islam, the retired official, was earlier posted as an officer in the sub-divisional land and land reforms department of Birbhum. He belongs to the district, where Tulu Mandal also carried out his operations.

Tulu Mandal was a close aide of Anubrata Mandal, the former district president of Birbhum. Islam retired from government service this year.

The official is due to be produced in the Suri lower court on Monday, when the public prosecutor is expected to seek his custody with police.

The chargesheet filed on 13 October names 12 people. Eleven have already been arrested, while Tulu Mandal, the main accused, is still on the run. Islam, who was also named in the chargesheet, had been avoiding arrest until a police raid conducted overnight between Sunday and Monday led to his capture.

Islam is not the first official to be arrested in the case. On 4 October, Birbhum district police arrested Sabyasachi Mandal, then the block land revenue officer of Mohammadbazar. He was later presented before a court and sent to jail.

Since the start of the case, the names of several administrative officers have been in the spotlight. Apart from arresting those named in the chargesheet, police are widening the scope of their investigation.

So far, Birbhum police have seized cash and gold worth Rs 220 crore from Tulu Mandal, his relatives and close associates. All of them have admitted to investigators that the assets belonged to Tulu and that they were compelled by the stone trader to conceal them at their homes.