Cattle smuggling case: Trinamool leader Anubrata arrested

Trinamool Congress, the ruling party of West Bengal in India, has been passing a very challenging time as one after another of its leaders are being arrested or detained in different cases.  

In the latest update, Anubrata Mondal, a prominent Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader, was arrested on Thursday in connection with a case relating to cross-border cattle smuggling, reports The Hindu.

A team of Indian Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested the TMC leader on Thursday from his Bolpur residence in Birbhum district.   

The case is about smuggling of cattle through the India-Bangladesh border. The CBI filed chargesheet in the case, the last being on Monday.

In the chargesheet, Mondal’s security officer Saigal Hossain has also been arrested.

The other accused named in the chargesheet include a former BSF commandant Satish Kumar, former TMC leader Binya Mishra, and Abdul Lateef, owner of a cattle haat in Birbhum.

The arrest comes after Mondal, a prominent TMC leader, skipped several summons by the agency, including two in the past one week.

He was asked to appear before the CBI on Monday and Wednesday. However, he skipped the summons.

Earlier on Monday, Mondal tried to get admission to state-run SSKM hospital in Kolkata but the doctors said that he did not require hospitalisation.

Mondal has been instrumental in establishing the party's dominance in Birbhum and adjoining districts. He has been no stranger to controversy and often accused of violence and political murders of the supporters of Opposition parties.  

He has also grabbed headlines for his public utterances like “hurling bombs at the police” and more recently “Khela Hobe (Game is On)” before 2021 Assembly polls in the State.

The arrest of Anubrata Mondal comes close on the heels of the arrest of former party heavyweight Partha Chatterjee by the Enforcement Directorate in the School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment scam.