Rs 1cr stolen from treasury building

The treasury building in Burdwan from where the money was stolen; (below) East Burdwan
additional superintendent of police Puspa visits the building. Pictures by Partha Protim Konar

Abhijeet Chatterjee, TT, Burdwan, Sept. 29: Over Rs 1 crore kept by the postal department in the vault of East Burdwan's main treasury building was found missing today amid questions on whether some insiders had played a role in the theft.

The incident came to light this morning when some post office employees went to the treasury building to collect the cash.

"When I went inside the treasury building, I found our vault broken and there was no money inside. We had kept Rs 1.19 crore on September 27 to pay the money to the pension holders today," said one of the employees who had gone to collect the money from the treasury.

As the treasury building is located opposite to Burdwan women police station, questions arose on whether the building was properly secured or not. Another twist in the theft was the mysterious disappearance of Sanjay Shaw, who had been leading six armed policemen on guard at the treasury building.

"Shaw seems to have disappeared without informing his superiors and that's quite suspicious," said a police source.

The investigators questioned the other policemen on duty at the treasury building in Burdwan town.

Around 8am, Sagar Chandra Maji, the head cashier of the post office, and two other employees had gone to collect the money from the treasury in a car. The post office usually remains closed during pujas but the authorities had kept it open for the pensioners today.

"As today was the date to pay pension to the account holders, we had to open the post office as usual at 10am and before that, we had gone co collect the money from the treasury," said Maji.

By the time the post office staff returned empty-handed, the pension holders had queued up to collect pension. The post office officials had no option but to tell the old men and women that they could not pay pension as there was no money.

"I needed the money today, but we were asked to leave... They did not give any date on when we would get the pension," said an old man on condition of anonymity.

As the news spread, senior police officers of East Burdwan, including additional superintendent of police Puspa, reached the treasury building and started an investigation.

"The vault was properly protected but still, the burglary took place... Shaw may have had a link with the incident," said a police source.

The district authorities, however, said the vault was operated by the postal department and it was not in the custody of the treasury.

"There are some vaults operated by some departments located at the treasury building but they are not the custody of the treasury. They are only located at the same building. However, we are looking into the matter and the police will take suitable action as per law," said Anurag Srivastava, the district magistrate of East Burdwan.

Additional SP Puspa said the police were investigating the case and nothing more could be said right now.