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WB cattle smuggling scam: CBI suspects lottery prize fraud by another accused
The federal agency said they had found suspicious transactions of huge amounts in the bank accounts of Mondal and his daughter in 2019 and 2021
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), probing into the alleged links between the multi-crore cattle smuggling scam in West Bengal and the lottery prize money won by arrested Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mondal and his daughter Sukanya, has said that Mohammad Enamul Haque, a prime accused in the cattle smuggling scam, may have also won a lottery prize in 2017.
The federal agency said they had found suspicious transactions of huge amounts in the bank accounts of Mondal and his daughter in 2019 and 2021.
“Now the bank statement of Haque also reveals that ₹50 lakh was deposited in his account in 2017. It could be lottery prize money,” said an official.
Earlier this month, the agency found that Mondal won the first prize of a Nagaland-based lottery company in a draw held on December 7, 2021. He was declared to have won ₹1 crore against a ticket priced at ₹6.
Later, probes revealed that in 2019, around ₹10 lakh was deposited in Mondal’s account. The agency also found that more than ₹1 crore was deposited in three installments – ₹25 lakh, ₹26 lakh and ₹50 lakh – in Sukanya’s account the same year.
“Anubrata Mondal may have tried to regularise the proceeds of the crime from cattle smuggling by showing them as lottery prizes won by him and his daughter more than once,” a senior official had earlier said.
Also Read:ED arrests TMC leader in cattle smuggling case
Both Mondal and Haque are now in custody. Mondal, a TMC strongman and known for his close links with chief minister Mamata Banerjee, was arrested in August this year by the CBI in connection with the scam.
On Thursday, he was taken into the custody by the Enforcement Directorate after being questioned for more than five hours in Asansol correctional home where is currently lodged.
The ED moved an application in Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court on Friday seeking the issuance of a production warrant against Mondal. The agency also questioned his daughter at least thrice in Delhi and Mondal’s chartered accountant Manish Kothari.
