TMC's Anubrata Mandal sent to 14-day judicial custody in cattle smuggling case

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Trinamool Congress (TMC) Birbhum district president Anubrata Mandal has been sent to 14-day judicial custody by the CBI Special Court in the alleged cattle smuggling case on Wednesday.

Mondal, a close associate of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, was arrested last week in connection with the 2020 cattle-smuggling case. The court had earlier sent him to CBI custody till August 20.

Mondal was summoned several times by the CBI asking but he had evaded citing health issues. He was finally arrested on August 11 from his residence in Bolpur in Birbhum district.

Meanwhile, a special CBI court judge has alleged that he has received a letter threatening to implicate his family in drug cases if he did not grant bail to Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Anubrata Mondal.

Also Read: Cattle smuggling: CBI freezes FDs worth Rs 16.97 cr belonging to Anubrata Mondal, family

The Asansol Special CBI court judge Rajesh Chakraborty alleged that the letter he received was signed by one Bappa Chatterjee.

The special court judge said the letter warned that if Mondal "was not released his family members would be implicated in the NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) Act case with commercial quantity," the judge's letter read.

The arrest also led to a war of words between the BJP and the TMC. Finance Minister of West Bengal Chandrima Bhattacharya had alleged that the CBI summons to Mondal was "political vendetta."

BJP leaders have repeatedly accused the TMC regime of fostering corruption.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on September 21, 2020, arrested a former Border Security Force (BSF) Commandant, in connection with an illegal cattle smuggling case across the Indo-Bangladesh border.

Anubrata Mondal's name came under the CBI scanner during the investigation of the case, the agency had claimed.

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