Bengal Cattle Smuggling Case: TMC's Anubrata Mondal Sent to 14-Day Jail Custody

Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mondal.

(Photo: PTI)

Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Anubrata Mondal was on Wednesday, 24 August, sent to 14-day jail custody by the CBI Special Court in Asanol in connection with a cattle smuggling case.

Mondal, who is the ruling party's Birbhum district president, was previously under the CBI custody. His bail plea had been rejected on Saturday, as the central agency had appealed for an extension of the TMC leader’s custody stating that he could "influence witnesses and tamper evidence if granted bail."

Earlier on Wednesday morning, Mondal said he wanted a CBI probe into a threat letter against a judge of Asansol special CBI court who is hearing the alleged cattle smuggling case against him.

Asansol special CBI court judge Rajesh Chakraborty had written to Paschim Bardhaman district judge on Monday requesting him to take note of the "threat" and bring it to the notice of the Registrar, Judicial Service, of the Calcutta High Court.

"I want to request the judge to order a CBI investigation into it," Mondal said in reply to questions by reporters about the threat letter, while he was being taken to the Asansol special CBI court.

A letter threatening to implicate his family members in NDPS case of commercial quantity if Mondal is not released on bail soon was sent to the officer-in-charge of the court, judge Chakraborty wrote to the district judge.

Mondal's accountant had also been grilled in the cattle smuggling case this week.

What Is the Case?

Mondal was arrested from his home in Bolpur, Birbhum district, on 11 August by the CBI.

The CBI alleged that Vikas Mishra, brother of absconding TMC leader Vinay Mishra, and Mondal provided protection to associates of alleged cattle smuggler Enamul Haq who used to buy animals at a market in Ilambazar, the officials said.

The smugglers used to ferry animals from Ilambazar to Indo-Bangla border under the alleged protection of Mondal and Mishra from state enforcement agencies, they said. They used services of some BSF officials, including charge sheeted Satish Kumar, to get these cattle smuggled to Bangladesh, the officials said.