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Debjit Mukherjee, Birbhum: In another major blow to the TMC and its government in West Bengal, the CBI arrested Anubrata Mondal, the party’s district president in Birbhum, in connection with the cross-border cattle smuggling racket in the State. He was picked up from his residence at Bolpur in Birbhum today. The CBI got 10 days custody of Mondal.
Earlier, in June, the CBI arrested Saigal Hossein, Mondal’s personal bodyguard who was reportedly the middleman between the cattle smugglers and Mondal. In 2020, the CBI had arrested a BSF commandant, Satish Kumar and three cattle traders, Enamul Haque, Anarul Sheikh and Mohammed Golam Mustafa , in connection with the smuggling racket. The CBI has also summoned eight IPS officers from the State— Gyanwant Singh, Rajiv Mishra, Sukesh Jain, Koteswar Rao, Shyam Singh, Tathagata Basu, Selva Murugan and Bhaskar Mukhopadhyay—for questioning in New Delhi.
The opposition parties, including the BJP, the CPI (M) and the Congress took to the streets in different districts celebrating Mondal’s arrest. Interestingly, members of the CPI(M) and the BJP demonstrated side by side outside the court in Asansol, where Mondal was presented.
