Kolkata
In connection with the multi-crore cattle smuggling case in West Bengal, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) have jointly confiscated movable and immovable properties worth Rs 11 crore owned by Anubrata Mondal, a prominent figure in the Trinamool Congress, and his family members. The agencies have submitted the details of these seizures to the Rouse Avenue Court in Kolkata, where the ED has consolidated all the cases related to the cattle-smuggling scam following an order from a special CBI court in Asansol last week. The ED and CBI have provided comprehensive information on how Anubrata Mondal, as the TMC president in Birbhum district, utilized his power and influence to acquire properties at prices significantly below the market value. These properties include rice mills, plots of land in prime areas near National Highways, residential flats, and luxury vehicles. Sources suggest that the total market value of the confiscated properties, taking into account all that has been seized by the two central agencies, could be in excess of Rs 20 crore. In their reports, the agencies have also outlined how the proceeds from the cattle-smuggling scam were funneled through investments in legal businesses like rice mills and through inward and outward remittances facilitated by shell companies. Anubrata Mondal is presently in judicial custody at Tihar Jail in New Delhi. Several others, including his daughter Sukanya Mondal, personal chartered accountant Manish Kothari, and personal bodyguard Sehgal Hossain, who are all accused as co-conspirators and beneficiaries in the multi-crore cattle smuggling case, are also detained at Tihar Jail.
