TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee claims Rs 57 lakh siphoned from dormant bank account

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee has claimed that Rs 57 lakh has been siphoned from his dormant bank account linked to his previous tenure as a West Bengal MLA.

Police have started a probe into the incident after a formal complaint was lodged by the bank authorities with the cybercrime section of Kolkata Police, an official said, adding that they were yet to arrest anyone in this regard.

"It is quite shocking... The account was opened when I was Asansol South MLA and remained dormant for several years after I became Serampore MP," Banerjee told PTI.

They superimposed my photograph and used fake Aadhaar and PAN cards to carry out the criminal activity, he claimed.

The miscreants also added a phone number to the account and all the OTPs and transaction details got diverted to them, he alleged.

"The criminals transferred Rs 57 lakh from my account. If this can happen to an MP, what will be the condition of a common man? How come these people find out that I had such a significant amount of money in my account?" Banerjee asked.

Speaking to PTI, a senior officer of Kolkata Police said that investigation was on and they were going through the transactions and all other details.