Court remands TMC’s 62-year-old Anubrata Mondal to CBI custody till August 24 for an alleged cow smuggling case despite ill health.
The special court of Asansol, which before remanded 62-year-old Anubrata Mondal, accused in an alleged cow smuggling case, to ten days’ CBI custody, on Saturday extended his remand for four more days till August 24.
While Anubrata Mondal’s counsel applied for his bail citing health issues, CBI counsel countered it, saying the bail might pave way for tampering of evidence. Before being taken to Asansol, the CBI took Mondal to a hospital for a routine check-up.
TMC’s Birbhum district unit president Mondal was arrested from his village Nichupatty house on August 11 for alleged non-cooperation with CBI in the cross-border cattle trafficking scam case as he skipped the federal investigation agency’s ten summons. Anubrata Mondal, who is known to be a close aide of party supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on Saturday claimed he was cooperating with the CBI in the investigation.
The CBI during search operations at a nationalized bank in Birbhum came across FDs worth over Rs 17 crore in the name of Mondal and his family members. On Friday, the central agency also conducted raids and search operations at a rice mill in Bolpur owned by Sukanya Mondal, daughter of Mondal, as a part of its ongoing probe into the alleged multi-crore cattle smuggling scam. The CBI also found several high-end vehicles parked inside the premises of the mill during the raid.