CBI Arrests TMC Leader Anubrata Mondal In Cattle Smuggling Case

The CBI has arrested TMC leader Anubrata Mondal in the ‘cattle smuggling case’ in 2020. Anubrata Mondal is an aide of TMC president & West Bengal CM Mamta Banarjee.

Anubrata Mondal, the leader of the Trinamool Congress, was detained by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday in connection with a livestock smuggling case.

A CBI team arrived at the home of the Birbhum district president early on Thursday, and after nearly an hour of questioning, Mondal was taken into custody, the source claimed.

A CBI official said, “Due to his lack of assistance in the investigation into the livestock smuggling scam, we have detained him. We have discovered Mr. Mondal’s direct participation in the fraud. We will interrogate him today and take the required legal action.

Before arresting the TMC leader, the CBI allegedly handed him a notice pursuant to Section 41 of the CrPC.

According to the official, Anubrata Mondal was interrogated in a room on the second level of his home. He declared that the CBI will also examine the Bolpur hospital’s physician who had advised bed rest for 14 days for Mondal.

The person stated that investigators from the investigation agency are also raiding the homes of a number of the TMC leader’s close friends.

Anubrata Mondal, the head of the Trinamool Congress, had already written to the CBI on Wednesday about his unavailability to meet with their sleuths in relation to a cattle smuggling case, citing “sickness” as a justification, a senior officer said.

Anubrata is the president TMC Birbhum district, who is in his 60s, requested two weeks from the investigators and included copies of two prescriptions with his letter. He also requested to meet with them in their city headquarters.

A day after the TMC leader failed to show up for an appointment with CBI agents, the agency on Tuesday issued a summons for Mondal to appear at its city office for questioning in relation to their inquiry.

Mondal paid a visit to the city on Monday, but he went to the SSKM Hospital for a checkup rather than the CBI headquarters.

The state-run medical facility’s doctors had told him to return in two months because he was only experiencing a few chronic ailments. The TMC leader then immediately departed for his Bolpur home.

The central agency has so far interrogated him twice, and recently it has also conducted raids at several locations in the district related to the matter.

Saigal Hossain, Mondal’s bodyguard, was also taken into custody by the investigation team.

The CBI has repeatedly requested that the TMC leader appear before it in connection with its investigation into the cattle scam. 

The leader of the TMC frequently made news for his impromptu remarks on a variety of topics. Mondal has also neglected summonses in the past while claiming to be ill.