Anubrata Mondal at TMC party office in Bolpur Birbhum. file | Photo credit: The Hindu
A Delhi court on Monday issued production warrant against a Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mandal In the case of cross-border cattle smuggling, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had requested the court to call Mr. Mondal to Delhi for questioning.
Birbhum District President of Trinamool Congress was The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested on August 11 And since then is behind bars. The ED is probing the money laundering aspect of the alleged scam.
Mr Mondal had opposed the ED’s move to take him to Delhi and senior advocate Kapil Sibal was among the lawyers representing him in Delhi.
Earlier, the ED had taken Mr Mondal’s bodyguard Sehgal Hussain and another accused in the scam to Delhi. The development assumes political significance as, unlike the various scams being probed by central agencies, Trinamool president Mamata Banerjee had put her weight behind the party’s strongman.
The CBI had filed a charge sheet in October this year alleging that Mr Mondal was a facilitator and beneficiary of the cattle-smuggling scam. The central agency has identified fixed deposits of about ₹18 crore and over 50 land and property documents in the name of Mr Mondal and his family members.
Sehgal Hussain, former BSF commandant Satish Kumar, businessman Emanul Haque, former Trinamool leader Binya Mishra and a cattle owner Abdul Latif are other accused named in the charge sheet filed by the CBI. market in Birbhum. Mr. Mondal has been questioned by both the CBI and the ED on several occasions.
The development comes at a time when central probe agencies are probing other scams, including the teacher recruitment scam, in which former minister Partha Chatterjee and half a dozen officials of the state education department are behind bars for their alleged involvement. Thousands of job professionals took to the streets in Kolkata on Monday demanding the intervention of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in this matter. The protesters are demanding appointments on the ground that their jobs were given to non-eligible candidates for monetary gains.