Police in West Bengal's Birbhum district recovered more than ₹28.5 crore in cash and around 15 kg of gold during a raid on Wednesday night, taking the estimated value of the total seizure close to ₹50 crore. The raid was conducted at the residence of Minar Mandal, who was subsequently arrested. According to the information available, the volume of cash was so large that five currency-counting machines reportedly stopped working during the overnight counting exercise. Police initially recovered around ₹20 crore, but as counting continued through the night, the figure increased to more than ₹28.5 crore. The cash was seized in around 25 bags and later packed into iron trunks before being taken to Mohammad Bazar police station. It is expected to be deposited in a bank as part of the investigation. Along with the currency, police recovered 14 gold bars weighing one kilogram each and 10 smaller gold biscuits weighing 100 grams each. The gold has been valued at approximately ₹21.5 crore.

Minar Mandal had earlier worked as a bus driver with the state transport department before becoming associated with the stone business. He is described as the manager and brother-in-law of absconding stone businessman Tulu Mandal, also known as Mohammad Najibuddin. According to the information provided, Minar told police during questioning that the seized cash and gold belonged to Tulu Mandal. Investigators are now trying to establish the source of the money and precious metal and determine whether other individuals were involved. Tulu Mandal has attracted attention in the past as well, including after reportedly organising an extravagant wedding for his daughter in 2024 that was estimated to have cost around ₹100 crore. He is also described as having been close to former TMC leader Anubrata Mandal. The political background surrounding the case has added further attention to the seizure. West Bengal Chief Minister Shubhendu Adhikari praised law-enforcement agencies for the operation and also shared photographs from the raid on social media, according to the details provided.

Police are examining whether the Birbhum cash and gold seizure has links to alleged irregularities involving revenue collection from stone quarries. Investigators suspect that at least part of the recovered money could be connected to government revenue collected from mining operations but allegedly not deposited in the state treasury. Around 2016-17, Tulu Mandal was reportedly involved in DCR collection related to stone quarries in Birbhum. Allegations subsequently emerged of large-scale irregularities in the collection and deposit of government taxes. The BJP has claimed that only around ₹20 lakh to ₹30 lakh per day was earlier being deposited into government accounts from such collections, compared with revenue of about ₹83 crore per month now. These claims form part of the wider allegations and have not been presented here as judicially established findings. Tulu Mandal has previously been on the radar of central investigative agencies as well. The CBI raided premises linked to him in 2022 in connection with a cattle-smuggling investigation, while the Enforcement Directorate later summoned him to Delhi for questioning. No final judicial finding on those allegations has been mentioned in the information provided. The immediate investigation is now centred on tracing the source and ownership of the ₹28.5 crore cash and 15 kg of gold and determining why such a large quantity was allegedly being kept at Minar Mandal's residence.