Taking a big action in the cow smuggling case, the CBI has arrested TMC leader Anubrata Mandal. This morning the CBI team reached Anubrata Mandal's house.
Anubrata Mandal is the TMC president of the Birbhum district. In such a situation, his arrest is a significant setback for Mamta Banerjee, who is already on the back foot with the arrest of Partha Chatterjee, who was already a minister.
Cash worth Rs 50 crore was recovered from the house of Arpita Mukherjee, an aide of Partha Chatterjee, who was implicated in the teacher recruitment scam. Anubrata Mandal did not respond to the 10 summons sent by the CBI in this case.
The agency then moved the court.
He has been questioned by CBI twice before this. The CBI had registered a case of animal smuggling in 2020, in which the name of Anubrata Mandal also surfaced. According to the CBI, between 2015 and 2017, the BSF recovered the heads of 20,000 animals ( cows). These cows were being smuggled across the border. The CBI had recently raided many places in the same case. The agency had already arrested Mandal's bodyguard Saigal Hussain. According to the information, a team led by CBI officer Rajiv Mishra reached Anubrata Mandal's house with a convoy of 5 to 6 vehicles.
During this, there was a presence of central security forces outside Anubrata's house. The agency interrogated Anubrata Mandal for some time at home and then arrested her. Many people gathered on the news of the CBI raid on Anubrata Mandal's house and the deployment of additional central forces in front of the house. The central officials will also interrogate the bank employees of Bolpur this morning in investigating the cow smuggling case. According to sources, a bank employee has already been summoned.
CBI officials want to question the bank employees about how large the amount was deposited in which account in the cow smuggling case. The arrest of Anubrata in the cow smuggling case has dealt a second blow to Mamta Banerjee in a few days. She was already under pressure from the arrest of Partha Chatterjee and the recovery of massive cash. Taking strong action herself, she removed Parth from the minister's post and expelled him from the party.