Cash, gun and mystery rooms: Two suitcases stashed with termite-eaten currency notes, firearm found on Kolkata college campus

KOLKATA: Two suitcases, stashed with currency notes, most of them destroyed by termites, were recovered from a locked storeroom at Surendranath College on Tuesday. The college authorities alerted the police, who discovered a firearm in the union room, which was also locked.

The college authorities lodged a complaint at the Muchipara Police Station.

A college official said the discovery was made during a clean-up drive on the campus following a KMC order for a dengue-prevention campaign.

After the cash was recovered, the staff members, in the presence of the principals of both the day and evening sections, broke open the locks of two other rooms, located on the fifth floor of a new building on the campus. Both the rooms, with attached washrooms, were reportedly furnished with beds, almirahs, tables and chairs, raising questions about their purpose. Pointing out that given the shortage of classrooms, the building was constructed to add teaching space on the campus, Purnendu Prakash Pal, teacher-in-charge of the day section, expressed surprise that instead, two rooms were set up with beds and other pieces of furniture.

Pal said the locked storeroom, where the money was found, was located at the rear of the campus and was rarely accessed. During the clean-up drive, the staff members initially could not find the key and on failing to retrieve it even after a search, they broke the lock. “After the lock was broken and our staff members entered, we found two suitcases full of damaged currency notes. We immediately informed the local police station about it,” Pal said. He added the spot, where the room was located, would get flooded every year and the room was not reopened.

Police said the most of the bundles of notes of Rs 100 and Rs 500 were destroyed by termites and that the Rs-500 notes were new ones issued after the demonetisation in 2016. They seized the cash and started an inquiry.

The incident started a political blame game. Local BJP workers and some college staff members alleged Debashish Banerjee, who was a govt body member and a prominent Trinamool functionary, and his associates exercised control over the college. Jafor Ali Akhan, principal of the evening college, claimed there were “multiple irregularities” but they could not take any action “out of fear”.

But Banerjee denied the allegations. “All these allegations are false, and it is an attempt to malign my party’s image as well as mine. I have no knowledge of the money. The college authorities can answer it better,” he said.

BJP MLA Sajal Ghosh recently alleged large-scale corruption linked to a former Trinamool-run union and fundraising on the pretext of the college fest. He sought a probe in a letter sent last week.