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Businessman close to TMC leader Anubrata Mondal held in one-year-old murder case
The arrest triggered a row with opposition leaders accusing the TMC government of shielding businessman Tulu Mondal from further interrogation by ED in the cattle smuggling case.
Md Najimuddin, a businessman based in West Bengal’s Birbhum district and popularly known as Tulu Mondal, was arrested by district police on Sunday in connection with a year-old murder case, officials said.
Tulu, who is known to be close to Trinamool Congress (TMC) strongman Anubrata Mondal, was grilled by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Delhi for the first time on Friday in connection with the cattle smuggling case in which the TMC leader was arrested on August 11.
Anubrata Mondal’s daughter, Sukanya, was also interrogated at the ED’s Delhi office for the third consecutive day on Friday, along with his chartered accountant Manish Kothari and another Birbhum-based businessman, Rajib Bhattacharya, ED officials said.
Though Kothari and Bhattacharya were questioned earlier, this was the first time Tulu Mondal, who owns several stone quarries in Birbhum alongside other businesses, faced the ED.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is also probing the coal and cattle smuggling cases, raided his residences in Birbhum’s Siuri town in August.
After facing the ED, Tulu Mondal returned to Birbhum on Saturday and was subsequently arrested by officers from the Muhammad Bazar police station. “He was arrested in connection with a murder case registered last year,” Birbhum superintendent of police Nagendra Nath Tripathi told HT.
A district court remanded the accused to four days of police custody on Sunday afternoon.
The arrest triggered a row with opposition leaders accusing the TMC government of shielding Tulu Mondal from further interrogation by the federal agency. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress alleged that arresting Mondal in an old murder case was a ploy to keep him out of the ED’s reach.
Bengal BJP’s chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said: “He was picked up by the district police 48 hours after he faced the ED whereas the murder took place one year ago. It is crystal clear that Tulu Mondal is a key player in the cattle smuggling operation. The driver of each and every truck that carries stones from quarries in Birbhum knows Tulu Mondal. He was running a parallel toll system at checkpoints with the help of the police.”
Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury alleged that efforts are being made to somehow keep Mondal away from the ED.
TMC spokesperson Jay Prakash Majumdar dismissed the allegations.
“This is a matter related to law. The police have done their duty. Opposition parties are making these statements because they have no real issue to raise,” said Majumdar.
