CBI: 231 ghost accounts opened in Bengal bank for cattle smuggling

The Aadhaar details were probably obtained when the villagers submitted their documents to apply for social welfare schemes.

Kolkata: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probing the cattle smuggling case in West Bengal suspects that 231 “ghost” bank accounts were opened by the accused using Aadhaar details of villagers in Birbhum district to siphon off proceeds of the crime, officials said.

TMC leader Anubrata Mondal being produced before the Dubrajpur court, in Birbhum. (PTI)

The Aadhaar details were probably obtained when the villagers submitted their documents to apply for social welfare schemes. The money from these “ghost” accounts were further transferred to various bank accounts in Kolkata and other places, the officials said.

The agency made the submissions before an Asansol court on Thursday when prime accused and president of Trinamool Congress (TMC)’s Birbhum unit, Anubrata Mondal, was produced before it. The court extended Mondal’s judicial custody till February 3.

CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) are conducting parallel probes into the alleged involvement of several Border Security Force (BSF), customs and police officers, smugglers and politicians in cattle smuggling along the West Bengal-Bangladesh border. The probe was started by CBI in 2018.

More than 10 people have been arrested so far.

In its report before the court on Thursday, CBI said that of the 231 “ghost” bank accounts, the signatures for around 200 of them appeared to belong to the same person, according to handwriting experts deployed by the agency. The transactions were made mainly through 177 accounts, CBI said.

A CBI officer said accounts in the name of farmers and homemakers were opened at Birbhum District Central Cooperative Bank Ltd which was raided by the agency on January 5.

“The federal agency suspects that the accused who ran the smuggling operation procured Aadhaar information from documents collected from villagers for social welfare schemes,” the officer said on condition of anonymity. Such documents are usually kept at panchayat offices.

“The recorded statements of these villagers are vital evidence in this case. Some of them don’t even know how to sign their names,” the officer added.

Manager of the Siuri branch of the bank, Abhijit Samanta, and former manager Indra Kumar Gurung have been interrogated at CBI’s Kolkata office several times since January 5.

TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh refused to comment since the matter is pending in court.

BJP leaders were busy attending a two-day state conference at Durgapur town and could not be reached for a comment.