According to police sources, barrister Gautam Mitra was asked to keep Rs 2 crore of a disputed partition suit since he was appointed the commissioner and receiver of the disputed property by the Calcutta High Court 30 years ago. Mitra had deposited the money in the Punjab National Bank’s Brabourne Road branch.

Subir Pal, a resident of Belghoria, was appointed by Mitra as his caretaker and personal secretary. He had access to Mitra’s bank accounts, statements and cheque books .

Three years ago, police sources said, Pal devised a plot with four of his associates to siphon money from the Mitra’s accounts. Since August 2005, Pal has forged Mitra’s signature in 569 cheques and siphoned over Rs 1 crore.

“Of this amount, there were some genuine cheques like that of phone and electricity bills. But the siphoned amount is definitely more than Rs 75 lakh,” said a police officer.

The money was then deposited in small amounts to the accounts of four of his associates — Manas Karmakar, Anup Mukherjee, Subir Sen and Sanjay Dey, all residents of Belghoria. Over 34 lakh have been found to have been transferred to their accounts.

When the money was to be returned to the parties involved in the partition suit, Mitra found that huge amounts had been siphoned. A case was registered in the Hare street police station. The last forged cheque was dated December 7.