By Firstdespatch Desk May 01, 2026
Agartala, May 1 (FD) In a major political escalation over the ₹60 lakh cash recovery case in Tripura, senior Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman has levelled serious allegations against the state police, claiming that former South Tripura Divisional Forest Officer Gaurav Rabindra Wagh was deliberately allowed to escape to prevent exposure of a larger corruption network within the Forest Department.
Addressing the media, Barman alleged that the police intentionally facilitated the escape of the accused officer. He claimed that had Wagh been arrested and properly interrogated, crucial details regarding alleged financial irregularities within the department could have surfaced, including how funds were collected, routed, and distributed.
“Had he been arrested, he would have disclosed everything—where the money came from, how it was moved, and who were involved. To prevent this truth from coming out, the police helped him flee,” Barman alleged, raising questions over the functioning of law enforcement agencies.
The controversy stems from an April 23 cash seizure incident, when Government Railway Police at Agartala Railway Station recovered ₹59,95,500 from a passenger, identified as Rajendra Chintaman Kankachila. During interrogation, he reportedly stated that the money had been handed over by his nephew, Wagh, for transport to Mumbai.
Despite this disclosure, the Crime Branch did not immediately arrest Wagh and instead questioned him over multiple days. By the time police moved to detain him, he had already absconded from his temporary stay at the State Forest Guest House.
Sources indicated that the accused may have misled investigators by keeping his mobile phone active at the location while fleeing by road, raising concerns over surveillance lapses.
The escape has drawn widespread criticism, with observers questioning why a key accused in a high-profile corruption case was neither detained nor kept under strict watch after his name surfaced.
Barman’s allegations have added a sharp political dimension to the case, prompting demands for an independent probe into both the alleged corruption and the circumstances surrounding the escape.
Meanwhile, Kankachila remains in police custody until May 4 as investigators continue to probe the source of the seized cash and its possible links to a wider network involving public officials. The FIR has been registered under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
With search operations underway to trace Wagh, the focus has now shifted from the initial cash recovery to the alleged lapses in investigation and accountability within the state’s law enforcement system. FD JK