E-Paper
TMC leader Anubrata Mondal’s ₹1-crore lottery win under CBI radar
The CBI has begun a probe into a prize of ₹1 crore that TMC strongman Anubrata Mondal won on a lottery ticket in 2021, officials aware of the details said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has begun a probe into a prize of ₹1 crore that Trinamool Congress (TMC) strongman Anubrata Mondal won on a lottery ticket in 2021, officials aware of the details said.
Mondal was arrested by the CBI on August 11 in connection with its probe in a cattle smuggling case in West Bengal. He is currently in judicial custody.
Officials probing the cattle smuggling case said the federal agency is investigating whether the TMC leader procured the prize-winning ticket – no. 89H54045 – from someone else to conceal the proceeds from the smuggling operation.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is running a parallel probe into the Nagaland-based lottery company’s operations in Bengal, after relatives of two more TMC leaders recently bagged the first prize of ₹1 crore.
Also read: ED grills TMC leader Anubrata Mondal’s daughter in Delhi in cattle smuggling case
“The draw for the lottery was held on December 7, 2021. Mondal was reportedly declared winner of ₹1 crore of the ticket that was priced at ₹6,” a CBI official said, seeking anonymity.
However, when the lottery company declared Mondal as the winner through an advertisement in a newspaper in January this year, the TMC leader denied the information before local media. “I am not aware of any such thing,” he said.
On Friday, a CBI team visited Bolpur town in Bengal’s Birbhum district, where Mondal is president of a local TMC unit, and questioned a dealer, sub-dealer and a retailer of the lottery company, officials said.
The dealer, Sheikh Ainul, and the sub-dealer, Rajib Dhibar, were asked to report to the CBI’s camp office in Bolpur during the day with documents relating to the prize Mondal won, they said.
One of the distributors was interrogated twice at CBI’s Kolkata office earlier this week.
Sheikh Munna, the retailer who sold the ticket as per company’s records, said he did not sell it to Mondal.
“I sell tickets in local villages. I can’t remember who bought it but it was certainly not Anubrata Mondal,” he told reporters while leaving the CBI’s camp office in the evening.
Also read: CBI arrests prime suspect in TMC panchayat leader’s murder
The opposition BJP accused TMC leaders of laundering money through lottery operations in the state.
BJP’s state unit president Sukanta Majumdar demanded a probe by federal agencies into the matter.
“TMC leaders seem to have found an astrologer who predicts precisely when they will win the first prize. I urge them to share the address of this astrologer. Let other people try their luck as well,” he said.
Hitting back, TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said: “The rules for lottery operations are framed by the Centre. This lottery company is based in another state. BJP leaders cry murder when one or two of our men win a prize but keep silent when hundreds of people win the first prize every week.”
HT reached out to the lottery company for a response but did not get one immediately.
