After 90 Days, Police Fail to File Chargesheet in Rs.16 Crore AMC Fraud Case, Accused Shrimayi Granted Bail Amid Allegations of Cover-Up and Slow Investigation

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, December 12, 2025

There is still no significant progress in the Agartala Municipal Corporation’s (AMC) massive cheque-fraud case involving more than Rs. 16 crore. Even after the Crime Branch took over the investigation, no new arrests have been made, raising serious concerns over the pace and intention of the probe.

On Thursday, West Tripura Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Saikat Das granted conditional bail to the only accused arrested so far UCO Bank staffer Ramiyani Shrimayi of Assam. Police failed to submit a chargesheet even after 90 days of her arrest, nor could they produce any fresh evidence against her. Under law, this made Shrimayi eligible for bail.

Shrimayi was arrested on 13 September from UCO Bank’s Kaman Chowmuhani branch after a complaint was lodged on 6 September at West Agartala Police Station. According to the FIR, AMC’s cheques were allegedly forged and over Rs. 16 crore was siphoned off through RTGS transfers to various outside companies. The transferred amount was quickly dispersed into multiple accounts.

The Crime Branch’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) later took charge of the investigation and obtained repeated remands of Shrimayi, claiming she executed the RTGS transfers after altering AMC’s registered mobile number, a move that kept AMC's cashier and accountant unaware of the transactions. Investigators said they had travelled to Kolkata and Nagpur in search of leads, but in court they failed to report any substantive findings from these trips.

Meanwhile, glaring lapses continue to raise eyebrows. The most shocking revelation remains that the person who physically deposited the forged cheques in the bank has not been arrested even once. This has triggered widespread allegations that influential individuals involved in the fraud are being shielded. Many suspect that invisible instructions have slowed down or redirected the investigation to protect the real masterminds.

Public frustration has intensified as there appears to be no move either to arrest higher level conspirators or to transfer the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) despite persistent demands. Accusations are mounting that the entire scam is being systematically suppressed to protect bank insiders and municipal officials who may be implicated.

During Thursday’s hearing, Shrimayi’s lawyer, Piyush Kanti Biswas, argued that the 90-day legal limit for filing a chargesheet had expired. The court granted interim bail on a bond of Rs. 1 lakh with one surety. Shrimayi has been directed to appear before the investigating officer every day. The bail will remain in force until 28 January next year.

With the investigation moving at a noticeably slow pace, questions continue to grow regarding transparency, accountability, and the sincerity of the probe into one of the largest financial frauds in recent history in Tripura.

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