Kolkata, Aug 11 (UNI) The CBI on Thursday arrested West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mondal, considered a close associate of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, in connection with the alleged cattle smuggling scam.
He was remanded to CBI custody by a special court till August 20.
Sources said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) decided to act firm a day after the powerful leader from Birbhum district skipped the federal investigative agency's 10th summons for interrogation and arrested him for allegedly not cooperating with the probe - ordered by the Calcutta High Court - into the trafficking of cattle to Bangladesh.
Mondal, TMC's national executive committeeand member Birbhum district president, had appeared before the CBI sleuths only once despite being summoned multiple times.
Amidst a tight security ring thrown in by the central forces, Mondal was presented before the Special Court in Asansol, where the CBI counsel prayed for 14-day custody. The defence counsel did not seek
bail.
After hearing both sides, the judge ordered that Mondal be kept in CBI custody till August 20, as workers of left parties and the BJP shouted slogans outside the court premises, calling Mondal a "thief".
The CBI sleuths reached Mondal's home in Nichupatty area under Ilambazar block of Birbhum around 10 AM on Thursday in a fleet of cars and decided to arrest him after some intense grilling.
A contingent of central forces had put up a ring around the house after the CBI officers entered the premises. Nobody was allowed to enter or go out of the house till the time Mondal was led out in a
convoy of cars.
Mondal was taken to the Eastern Coalfield Limited's guest house in Sheetalpur of Paschim Bardhaman district for another round of questioning and medical tests. Sources said the central forces virtually converted the guest house into a fortress. According to an official, Mondal signed
the arrest memo around 4 PM.
Meanwhile, the Trinamool seemed to be distancing itself from the arrested leader.
"The party does not give indulgence to any unethical or corrupt activity, Our national general secretary Abhishek Bandopdhyay and supreme leader Mamata Banerjee have both made it
clear that we have a zero-tolerance policy towards corruption. If anybody cheats people or
does anything which is damaging to the masses, our party will not support such leaders," said
state minister Chandrima Bhattacharya.
Mondal is also under the CBI scanner in connection with alleged smuggling of coal and has faced a round of grilling from the premier probe agency for his purported involvement in the violence in the
state after last year's Assembly polls.
Mondal, known for his repeated inciteful comments, had in 2013 asked his partymen to "bomb the police" and "burn the houses of dissident Trinamool candidates" in the panchayat elections.
In 2018, he was accused of resorting to strongarm tactics to prevent opposition candidates from filing their nominations in the Panchayat polls.
The Election Commission of India had kept him under strong vigil on more than once occasions during general elections following complaints from opposition candidates about his intimidatory tactics.
Mondal is the second prominent Trinamool leader to be arrested recently. Last month the then-party secretary general and state commerce and industries minister Partha Chatterjee was taken into
custody by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the alleged irregularities in the appointment of teaching and non-teaching staff in government-aided schools during his tenure as education minister.
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