Daijiworld Media Network - Kolkata

Kolkata, Aug. 5: A trolley containing more than Rs 48 lakh in cash was recovered from an abandoned brick kiln in Durgapur in West Bengal's West Burdwan district during a police raid, officials said on Wednesday.

The recovery was made on Tuesday night at a brick kiln in Chandradanga under the Faridpur Police Station limits while police were investigating a recent theft case.

According to police, the probe began after Manoranjan Pal, a rice mill owner from Gaurbazar village in Bankura district, lodged a complaint alleging that burglars had stolen a trolley containing cash and gold ornaments from his house on August 1.

Pal told police that his brother-in-law had entrusted him with the trolley containing the cash for safekeeping before it was stolen.

Acting on a tip-off, police raided the abandoned brick kiln and recovered the trolley filled with cash. However, officials said it is yet to be established whether the recovered money is the same amount stolen from Pal's residence.

Police are also investigating who abandoned the trolley at the brick kiln and when it was left there.

"As part of the investigation, we are trying to ascertain whether the cash recovered from the abandoned brick kiln was stolen from the complainant's house or came from some other source," a senior officer of the Asansol-Durgapur Police Commissionerate said.

The recovery comes amid a series of major cash seizures in West Bengal in recent months. In April, more than Rs 50 lakh was seized during a naka check in Kolkata. More recently, gold and cash worth around Rs 50 crore were recovered from the residence of a relative of Birbhum-based stone trader Tulu Mandal. Authorities had also seized several lakh rupees in another recovery in Malda district.