The Enforcement Directorate probing the West Bengal cattle smuggling case has got permission from a Delhi court to bring senior Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mondal to the national capital for a face-to-face questioning with key accused Anup Majhi who has been locked up in Tihar jail.
Mondal is currently lodged in Asansol jail in connection with another case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The decision of the Rouse Avenue Court on Monday came a day after a one-to-one meeting between Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Shah was in Kolkata to attend the Eastern Zonal Council Conference. Banerjee also gave Shah a ride in her official car.
The impromptu meetings between Banerjee and Shah had raised a few eyebrows as some of the state BJP leaders believed that it would sent a wrong signal to the party's state unit which has been taking on the ruling TMC over a number of issues.
Mondal is an accused in the coal and cattle smuggling cases being investigated by the ED and the CBI. The investigators believe that the proceeds from the cattle smuggling have been sent abroad through hawala transactions.
Sources have confirmed that Mondal will move Delhi High Court against the local court's verdict. In case there is no stay order, the agency is likely to take him to Delhi soon.
The West Bengal BJP has welcomed the Delhi court order. Party state president Sukanta Majumdar said: “What he did was beyond imagination. He must face the consequences; he must be brought to justice. Delhi’s Tihar jail is the right place for Anubrata.”
The cattle smuggling case was first lodged in Delhi as many senior BSF leaders were allegedly involved in the crime. The investigation agency claims that the cattle smuggling mafia led by Anup Majhi used to bribe a section of BSF officials along with politicians like Mondal to send thousands of cows to Bangladesh, which has high demand for meat.
The Union government cracked the whip after Shah became the home minister. Its order for an investigation was earlier challenged in Calcutta High Court, but the court upheld the government's decision.
