3 Jharkhand Congress MLAs caught with piles of cash in West Bengal's Howrah

Acting on a specific input, the police swung into action and detained the vehicle.

"We got a specific input on the basis of which we stopped the car. Three MLAs from Jharkhand were in the car and we found a lot of cash inside. We had to ask for a counting machine because of the volume of cash. We will be able to tell how much cash was recovered only after full counting is done," SP Rural Howrah Swati Bhangalia was quoted as saying by India Today.

Currently, the police are counting the cash, the report said.

According to sources, mountains cash has been recovered from the vehicle of Jamtara Congress MLA Irfan Ansari from Jharkhand on Kolkata-Mumbai highway in Howrah's Panchla area.

He himself and 2 more congress MLAs, Rajesh Kachhap and Naman Bixal Kongari, were travelling to Jharkhand when Howrah Rural Police (WBP) intercepted the car and recovered the cash. 

Howrah Rural SP Swati Bhangalia said the three Jharkhand MLAs traveling with huge amounts of cash have been detained and their vehicle has been seized. An investigation initiated has been initiated in the case, she added.

The ruling Trinamool Congress, which is facing grave embarrassment over the arrest of former cabinet minister and party veteran Partha Chatterjee and his aide following the recovery of mountains of cash from the latter's house linked to the teacher recruitment scam, was quick to react to the news.

"Utterly shocking! Huge amounts of cash recovered from a car of a Congress MLA from Jharkhand - intercepted at Howrah. Apparently, three INC MLAs were travelling in the car. Is ED going after only a select few?" TMC said in a tweet.

The party also questioned the source of the money seized from three Congress MLAs while mentioning "rumours of horse-trading and the possible toppling of the Jharkhand Govt".

Partha Chatterjee and Arpita Mukherjee were arrested on July 23, a day after the probe agency found Rs 21.90 crore in cash, foreign exchange and gold bars worth Rs 2 crore from the home of Patha's aide, Arpita Mukherjee.

On Wednesday recovered another Rs 28.90 crore in cash, over 5 kg of gold and several documents from her second apartment.

On the direction of the Calcutta High Court, the CBI is investigating the alleged irregularities in the recruitment of Group-C and D staff as well as teachers in government-sponsored and aided schools on recommendations of the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC).

The ED is investigating the money trail in the scam.