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TMC leader Anubrata Mondol skips CBI summon in cattle smuggling case
This is the fourth time that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Anubrata Mondol has skipped a summon by the central bureau of investigation (CBI).
KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mondol didn’t appear before the central bureau of investigation (CBI) in the ongoing cattle smuggling probe on Tuesday. This is the fourth time that he has skipped a summon by the central agency.
On Monday, Mondol moved the division bench of the Calcutta high court seeking relief from appearing in the ongoing cattle smuggling probe. Earlier on Friday, the single bench of justice Rajasekhar Mantha denied Mondol any relief from appearing before CBI.
On Tuesday, his counsel went to the CBI office in Kolkata to inform the agency officials that Mondol has skipped the summon as the case is likely to be heard by the court on Wednesday.
Mondal earlier declined to appear before the central agency on three prior occasions citing medical ailments. He also requested CBI to question him at a place nearer to his residence considering the ongoing pandemic.
The CBI, which has field offices in Birbhum and the adjoining West Burdwan district, summoned Mondal to its regional head office at Nizam Palace in south Kolkata to appear not as an accused but as a witness in the multi-crore cattle smuggling operation. On Tuesday CBI officials however questioned Mondol’s security guard.
According to the CBI first information report (FIR), cattle seized by the Border Security Force (BSF) were undervalued and auctioned with the help of some customs officers so that traders could buy these at very low price and legally sell them again in Bangladesh. Part of the sale proceeds allegedly went to some TMC leaders and government officers. The probe was started by CBI in 2018.
Several state police officers along with BSF and customs officials are suspects in this case, which is being probed by the enforcement directorate (ED) as well. Two BSF officers and a state police inspector have been arrested so far. Bengali movie star and TMC Lok Sabha member Deepak Adhikari was interrogated by CBI for five hours in Kolkata on February 15.
Last month, the high court directed CBI not to take any coercive measures against Mondal without the leave of the court in connection with the ongoing probe into the West Bengal post poll violence cases.
