Kolkata, August 25: Fresh trouble appears to be mounting for senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Anubrata Mondol, known to be close to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, as after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) will question him in connection to the alleged cattle smuggling scam, sources told Republic.
Sources within the ED have confirmed to Republic TV that a fresh application is being moved in a court in New Delhi seeking permission to question the TMC’s Birbhum district president.
This comes at a time when the ED has already filed an application in Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court seeking to question Saigal Hossain, the bodyguard of Anubrata Mondal. In the application, they mentioned that as of now Saigal is in West Bengal’s Asansol jail and ED officers of Delhi want to bring him to the national capital for interrogation. As per ED sources, they collected documents from the CBI and investigated the roles of Anubrata and Saigal in the cattle smuggling case. The ED is planning to investigate benami properties and crores of money which was reportedly laundered, sources said.
It is pertinent to mention that earlier, the CBI had taken Hossain into custody following which he had taken the name of Anubrata Mondal in the cattle smuggling case.
A special CBI court sent Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Anubrata Mondal to 14 days of judicial custody in connection with the cattle smuggling case on Wednesday.
The TMC Birbhum district president was arrested by the CBI on August 11 after he skipped 10 summons of the central agency in the cattle smuggling case. On the same day, he was sent to CBI’s custody for 10 days till August 20, which was later extended till August 24. Mondal on August 20, appealed for bail citing ‘poor health’, but the CBI counsel objected to his plea describing him as a very powerful and highly influential person. If granted bail, he could influence witnesses and meddle with evidence, the central agency said.
On 21 September 2020, the CBI filed a case against Border Security Force (BSF) commandant Satish Kumar and several others in connection with an illegal cattle smuggling racket along the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal, which was taking place allegedly in connivance with public servants.
