Cattle scam accused, witness to Bengal businessman’s murder surrenders in court

Jha, an accused in illegal coal mining operations, was allegedly shot dead by unidentified people in front of an eatery on NH-2 in East Burdwan district while he was allegedly travelling in Latif’s car

Prime accused in the West Bengal cattle smuggling case and a witness to the murder of businessman Rajesh Jha, Abdul Latif, surrendered in the court on Thursday.

His lawyer Sekhar Shukla told HT that Latif was granted conditional bail by the court (Representative Photo)

His lawyer Sekhar Shukla told HT that Latif was granted conditional bail on the same day after he appeared before the Asansol court in West Burdwan district following the directions given by the Supreme Court.

Latif, who was declared an absconder in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the cattle smuggling case, was wanted in connection with the April 1 murder of businessman Rajesh Jha.

Jha, an accused in illegal coal mining operations, was allegedly shot dead by unidentified people in front of an eatery on NH-2 in East Burdwan district while he was allegedly travelling in Latif’s car.

“Latif recently moved a bail petition to the Supreme Court. On April 24, the Supreme Court ordered him to cooperate with the CBI investigation and appear before the local court. The special CBI court in Asansol has asked him to report to the federal agency thrice a week,” Latif’s lawyer said.

He added that Latif has also agreed to cooperate with East Burdwan police after they approached the Asansol court, demanding to interrogate Latif in Jha’s murder case.

Suspected to have gone into hiding, Latif surfaced in Asansol a day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Sukanya Mondal, the daughter of another cattle scam accused and Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Anubrata Mondal. During hearings in the cattle smuggling case, CBI told a court that Latif was a close associate of Anubrata. Anubrata was arrested in August last year by CBI and is now lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail.

Jha, who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2020 was allegedly shot dead by unidentified people on April 2, police have claimed that Jha was in the car with Latif.

According to the police, they have so far arrested one person in connection with Jha’s murder.

An investigating officer said on condition of anonymity that Sheikh Noor Hossain, the driver, told the police that on April 1 he drove Latif from his residence in Birbhum district to Durgapur where Jha boarded the vehicle.

“Latif, Jha and Brotin Mukherjee, an old associate of Jha, were travelling in the SUV from Durgapur to Kolkata. They stopped at an eatery in Shaktigarh where the killers opened fire. While Jha died, Mukherjee sustained a bullet injury in the arm. Latif has been missing since then,” the officer said.