TMC panchayat leader refunds 'cut money', says he didn't take it for himself: Report

When the Trinamool Congress (TMC) was in power in West Bengal, the term “cut money” became a familiar term. The former ruling party was often accused of extracting “cut money” or bribes or illegal commissions from people for anything, be it building a house or availing the benefits of government schemes, even the central ones.

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After the TMC lost power in this year’s Assembly elections, and its leaders and workers are facing backlash in the open, the issue of “cut money” has stolen the limelight again. The public has been found confronting members of the TMC who have been accused of taking “cut money” or a bribe, asking them to either refund the money or face consequences.

Arrests of party functionaries and elected representatives on bribery and corruption charges, with some even paraded through streets with ropes around their waists, have become a routine affair in the state. There have also been cases where the accused have counter-threatened when asked to give a refund.

Gram panchayat member returns money to beneficiaries

Amid such a tense state of affairs, one man, a TMC gram panchayat member from Namkhana in the South 24 Parganas district of Bengal, has done something unusual. Madhav Chandra Laya, 25, has returned “cut money” to 45 villagers recently, saying he hadn’t taken the money for himself, The Telegraph Online reported.

The villagers had to shell out the funds for getting financial help under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, a central housing scheme.

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Calling the entire system “broken”, Laya, a member of the TMC gram panchayat from Shibrampur under Namkhana block of the district, told the news outlet that many people failed to meet the eligibility criteria since the rules of the housing schemes are stringent and that he was told by officials to charge each family that wanted financial assistance a sum of Rs 5,000.

Laya, who has been a gram panchayat member since 2023, said he decided to refund the money before the election results were declared last month.

According to him, had he returned the money during the election, he would have been accused of luring voters with cash. He, therefore, waited till the results were out.

He called a meeting of the people and told them that he would return the money, Laya told The Telegraph Online.

'Not remorse but fear'

Amit Malviya, in charge of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) national information and technology department and co-incharge of West Bengal, shared on X a video from Patbunia village in Namkhana showing Laya returning the money.

Amid a string of corruption-related arrests of TMC leaders, panic appears to be setting in at the grassroots level.

After Kakdwip, it is Namkhana.

In Namkhana, South 24 Parganas, a local TMC leader was seen returning cash to residents after allegations emerged that ₹5,000 had… pic.twitter.com/tpRUzO3UKZ

— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) June 2, 2026

Suggesting that things have changed in Bengal under a new government, he wrote, “The fear of investigation is now so palpable that local leaders seem to be scrambling to return “cut money” before the law catches up with them. When those who extorted the poor begin refunding money in public, it is not remorse at work, it is fear.”

Laya reportedly returned Rs 5,000 to around 45 beneficiaries, while around 15 were yet to be repaid, said The Telegraph Online report.

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Laya's father, a school headmaster, helped arrange Rs. 2.25 lakh, which was returned to the beneficiaries. Sumanta Mandal, the BJP MLA of Sagar constituency, under which Laya’s area falls. promised a probe into officials and functionaries involved in wrongdoing. Laya, who is now pursuing an MBA in travel and tourism in Kolkata, said he was also open to any kind of probe.

Grassroots TMC leader said they had to do it

His story is not an exception. In a village in Birbhum district of Bengal, Dilip Roy (name changed), a local trader and a member of the TMC, told this website during an informal conversation that they knew about rampant corruption but had to stay quiet for their own safety.

Giving an example, he said there were times when clothing materials reached their village for distribution among the needy. But before the distribution day came, they were allegedly shifted to local leaders’ own houses and godowns, leaving the functionaries at the risk of facing the public’s wrath.

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It may be mentioned here that in November 2022, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, then the chief minister of Bengal, had stopped a programme in North 24 Parganas mid-way to pull up the district magistrate over his alleged failure to bring to the venue blankets and winter garments she had bought for distribution among locals.

In June 2019, Mamata had asked TMC workers at party meeting in the state's Nadia district that if anyone had taken "cut money" from the people, they must return it.