A special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday rejected bail petition of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Anubrata Mondal arrested in connection with cross border cattle smuggling scam.
Mr. Mondal was arrested on August 11 and during the day was produced before the court in Asansol. The counsels appearing for the TMC leader sought bail on grounds that he wasn’t keeping well and he requires treatment at a prominent health facility.
The advocates appearing for CBI opposed the bail prayer on grounds that Mr. Mondal is an “influential” and “powerful” person and can manipulate and tamper the evidence if granted bail. The Court rejected the bail petition and directed that Mr. Mondal was remanded into CBI custody till August 24. After his bail prayer was rejected Mr. Mondal was brought to the CBI office in Kolkata at Nizam Palace. A large crowd had gathered outside the Court in Asansol and some people raised slogans like ‘cattle thief’ when the TMC leader was produced before the court.
After his arrest on August 11, the CBI has seized fixed deposits of ₹16.97 crores in the name of family members of the prominent TMC leader. The CBI has held raids on certain establishments including a rice mill in south Bengal after the arrest of the scam.
With the party claims Partha Chatterjee
In another development, former TMC heavyweight Partha Chatterjee who is in judicial custody after his arrest by Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the school service commission scam was taken to a State run SSKM Hospital in Kolkata after he complained of feeling unwell in the Presidency Correctional Home in Kolkata. After a medical checkup Mr. Chatterjee was brought back to the correctional facility. “I was and will remain with the party,” Mr. Chatterjee told media persons while being taken out of the hospital. The former Minister also complained of being unwell.
While the Trinamool Congress leadership has backed Anubrata Mondal, the party has dumped Partha Chattejee. Five days after his arrest, Mr. Chatterjee was stripped of his ministerial and party responsibility. However, about ten days after his arrest, Mr. Mondal remains the party’s Birbhum district president. The cross-border cattle smuggling scam involves smuggling of cattle through the India Bangladesh border and the CBI is particularly looking at the role of cattle hats in Birbhum.
An FIR was lodged by CBI in the cattle smuggling case in September 2020 and the CBI has filed several charge sheets in the case, the last a few weeks ago. The document has named Anubrata Mondal’s security officer Saigal Hossain who remains behind bars as an accused. The others accused who have been named in the chargesheets by the CBI include a former BSF commandant Satish Kumar, former TMC leader Binya Mishra and Abdul Lateef, owner of a cattle haat in Birbhum.
