The Criminal Investigation Department of the West Bengal Police on Wednesday claimed that the Delhi Police allegedly stopped its team from conducting a search operation in the national capital at a property of one of the three Congress MLAs who were arrested in Jharkhand.

On July 31, the West Bengal Police arrested Jamtara MLA Irfan Ansari, Khijri MLA Rajesh Kachhap and Kolebira MLA Naman Bixal Kongari with cash worth about Rs 49 lakh stacked in a car in which they were travelling.

The Delhi Police, however, claimed that they initially gave all assistance to the CID team but then noticed some discrepancies in the search warrant, reported ANI.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South West) Manoj C said that after seeking legal opinion, the officials found the warrant was not executable. He added that the CID team had been informed about this.

Earlier in the day, an unidentified senior CID official had told PTI that despite having a court warrant, the team was restrained by the Delhi Police from conducting a raid.

“They had gone to the national capital in connection with the probe into the cash seizure case,” the official said. “This restraining is completely illegal.”

In a tweet, the CID tagged the Delhi commissioner of police and asked him to intervene in the matter.

Meanwhile, a four-member team of the West Bengal Police also reached Guwahati on Wednesday to investigate the cash seizure case, PTI reported. A senior officer of the Guwahati Police told the news agency that they have provided full co-operation to the team from West Bengal.

The officer also denied media reports of the West Bengal officials being detained after they landed at the Guwahati airport.

The cash seizure case

The arrest of the MLAs had triggered a political row with the Congress alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party was trying to destabilise the elected government in Jharkhand by offering Rs 10 crore each and a ministerial berth to MLAs. Congress is part of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-led government along with the Rashtriya Janata Dal.

The three MLAs have been remanded to the custody of the West Bengal Police’s Criminal Investigation Department till August 10.

Congress MLA Kumar Jaimangal on August 1 filed a first information report claiming that the arrested leaders were acting at the behest of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. According to Jaimangal, Ansari told him that Sarma was taking part in efforts to topple the government “with the blessings of top shots of BJP political party sitting in Delhi”.