BJP MP Arjun Singh had admitted to having around 93 police cases against him, but that does not bother him. In addition to this list, the latest case to emerge is one filed by the Bhatpara Municipality board Chairman Arun Kumar Banerjee at the Bhatpara Police station against Singh for embezzlement of Rs. 9.21 crore. He had earlier been the Chairman of the Municipality Board.
“Chairman Relief Fund has guidelines for who is entitled to the funds...or those who are in dire need of funds or deserving students. However, it has been seen, that the former Chairman’s close people were beneficiaries of the money which is against the Principles,” said Arun Kumar Banerjee.
As far as the veracity of the Chairman’s Relief Fund is concerned, Banerjee says that no local body is entitled to operate such a fund. Such accounts for the welfare of the people is only allowed for some special cases like the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund and the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.
According to the Police, the misappropriation of funds had taken place through a fictitious savings account in a private bank under the name ‘Chairman’s Relief Fund.’
"If there is no legal proof that the Chairman’s Relief Fund is valid, then we will inform the public and close this fund. However, it will adversely impact some genuine people who required these funds," added Banerjee.
The BJP MP’s nephew, Sourav Singh, has also been named in the FIR. Singh and his nephew have been charged with theft, misappropriation of property, criminal breach of trust, cheating to create loss, forgery for cheating and using forged documents as genuine, under the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
Singh was the Chairman of the Bhatpara Municipality from 2010 to 2019. Now a BJP MP, he had been a Trinamool Congress (TMC) loyalist since the party’s inception. He had switched camp to the saffron party to contest the Lok Sabha elections in 2019 from Barrackpore constituency on a BJP ticket. Singh has repeatedly alleged that he is being targeted by the ruling administration but remains undeterred.
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