DAYA News Bureau 11th August 2022: Anubrata Mondal , the Birbhum district president of Trinamool Congress has been arrested by CBI today morning in cow smuggling case, after he ignored ten consecutive summons from the CBI.
A team of CBI officials led by the agency’s superintendent (anti- corruption branch), Rajeev Mishra, along with a large team of central armed forces personnel reached Anubrata Mondal’s palatial house in Bolpur Neechupatti at exactly 9:50 am today.
According to sources, Anubrata Mondal had locked himself on the second floor of his house. He had locked the room from inside and refused to sign the arrest memo. After being told that the para military forces will break open the door, he came out. CBI took the phone of everyone in the house. After that the investigators arrested him. According to CBI sources, he has been detained due to non-cooperation in the investigation of cow smuggling.
According to a CBI official, the decision to arrest Anubrata was taken on Wednesday evening; after the central investigating team became definite as to how desperate Mondal is to avoid the summons for which he managed to get a ‘bed-rest’ advice by pressurizing a doctor of the Bolpur Sub-divisional Hospital. The central investigating team even talked to the doctor concerned and he also said that he was forced to give the bed-rest advice in plain paper after being pressurized, both from his higher authorities as well as Mondal. So, before Anubrata could adopt any further method to skip interrogation, CBI arrested the top TMC leader.
It has been learnt that the CBI team is also carrying a court order with them that empowers them to conduct search operations at Mondal’s residence.
Anubrata Mondal after being arrested was put in a car and a convoy of CBI and Central force personnel whisked him away at around 11:15 am today. Initially it was thought that the TMC heavyweight leader and a close aide of CM Mamata Banerjee will be taken to the temporary CBI camp office in Durgapur NIT for further interrogation.
However, the convoy stopped at a hotel in Kanksa at around 12:40 pm. Anubrata came out and entered the hotel along with CBI officers. After 10 minutes he came out and got on to the car. It is not clear why he was taken to this hotel.
The CBI convoy turned towards Durgapur from Darjeeling More crossing at around 1pm. But the convoy didn’t turn towards Durgapur and instead proceeded towards Asansol ESI Hospital.
According to sources, a medical board had already been formed at ESI Asansol Hospital for Anubrata. The convoy reached the hospital at around 2 pm.
After medical examination, Anubrata has been taken to Shitalpur guest house by the CBI officials. According to CBI sources, the Trinamool leader might be interrogated there.
With the arrest of Anubrata Mondal, the TMC leader, who often made headlines for his off-the-cuff remarks on various issues, the opposition battle field is now open. Both CPI(M) and BJP are trying hard to cash in upon the changed scenario in the state.
Here it must be mentioned that in last month Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee had been arrested by the ED in a teacher recruitment scheme scam to the tune of crores.
Why the CBI evaded their temporary camp office at NIT Durgapur campus has not been answered by its officials. However, the news that the Durgapur CPI(M) unit is planning an agitation movement in front of the NIT campus in Durgapur, might have prompted them to take Anubrata to Asansol.