Mamata Banerjee Gets Relief From Calcutta HC In TMC's Frozen Bank Account Case, Allowed To Withdraw Funds With A Condition

TMC Bank Account Case: Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee received major relief from the Calcutta High Court on Thursday in the party bank account frozen case. The court granted permission to withdraw funds from three frozen bank accounts to manage the party's daily expenses. However, the court imposed a condition to use the bank accounts. The court appointed a special officer, who will manage the bank accounts.

What Was The Allegation?

Earlier on June 18, the police froze the three bank accounts after a complaint was filed at the Cyber Crime Police Station of the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate, alleging that these accounts were used to keep black money. Some MLAs aligned with the Ritabrata Banerjee-led faction of the TMC complained to the cyber crime police station of the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate, seeking a detailed investigation into the accounts. 

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Court-Appointed Officer Will Manage TMC Bank Account

The court appointed retired Calcutta High Court judge Subrata Talukdar as the special officer to manage the day-to-day expenses of the Mamata-led faction until September 30, 2026.

Two authorised signatories of the three bank accounts will present checks to the special officer, who will then submit them to the bank authorities for encashment. The court clarified that operating bank accounts for daily expenses related to running a political party is permitted.

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Hearing the petition, the court permitted transactions to cover TMC's legal expenses and the special officer's honorarium of Rs 1.25 lakh per month. The court also directed bank authorities to preserve the electronic records and banking data of the three accounts and cooperate with the ongoing police investigation.

Earlier, the private bank where three bank accounts of the Trinamool Congress party have been debit-frozen filed a report before the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday as per its direction to disclose the corpus held in those accounts.

Bringing to the court's notice that a few more bank accounts of the Trinamool Congress have also been debit-frozen, the Mamata Banerjee-led faction's lawyer Kishore Dutta stated that he will file a supplementary affidavit in this regard on the next date of hearing.

Justice Bhattacharyya, during the hearing on July 2, also allowed the Bidhannagar Police to place records before the court on the next date regarding the complaint and the investigation into the resultant FIR. The debit operations of three bank accounts of the Trinamool Congress have been frozen following complaints by rebel party MLAs seeking a probe into the source of the funds.

(With Jagran.com/PTI inputs)