Birbhum police on Sunday night suspended a constable, five civic volunteers and a village police personnel for alleged delay in informing their seniors about recovery of Rs 60 lakh from a van during routine checking in Rampurhat on August 28.

Though the Rampurhat police had recovered the money from the van, the driver and his aide left the vehicle and fled.

The cops had informed their superiors about the seizure of the vehicle but did not tell them about the huge amount of cash recovered.

Without informing their superiors about the recovery, the cops had kept the money with them.

The recovery of the money by Rampurhat cops on August 28 came to light following interrogation of driver Raj Haldar and his aide Tanmoy Dey, who were arrested by Barrackpore police on September 1.

The arrest also revealed that the money recovered from the van was part of the Rs 86 lakh that ATM cash van driver Raj Haldar had fled with from Jagaddal in North 24-Parganas on August 26.

During their interrogation on September 1, the duo told the Barrackpore police that they had left the cash in the van in Rampurhat and fled. This was immediately communicated to Birbhum police by their counterparts in Barrackpore.

On September 2, the Birbhum police informed the cops in Barrackpore about the recovery of the cash in Rampurhat on August 28.

“Seven persons, including a constable and five civic volunteers, have been suspended for their delay in informing the police station about recovery of money. A team is probing to find out why they kept the recovery of cash secret,” said Shyam Singh, the Birbhum police chief.

Police sources said the cops, who were on patrolling duty in Rampurhat, had intercepted the van carrying cash early on August 28.

The cops had informed the inspector-in-charge of Rampurhat police that the van had been seized but the driver and his aide managed to flee.

“Accordingly we had informed Barrackpore police about recovery of the van as police stations across Bengal had been informed about the vehicle after the driver had fled with it from Jagaddal on August 26. However, we had no idea that cash had also been recovered,” said a police officer in Rampurhat.

Senior police officers in Birbhum are clueless about what led the seven cops to hide information regarding recovery of such a huge amount of cash.

While the seven persons have been suspended, additional superintendent of police (headquarters), Birbhum, Subimal Paul, has been asked to probe into the intention of the cops to keep the money with them and not inform their superiors about the recovery.