In connection with a case of cattle smuggling in West Bengal, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) announced on Wednesday that it had conducted raids at more than a dozen locations in Kolkata and the Birbhum district and had seized approximately $17 lakh and items like hard drives and pen drives. Several damning documents and locker keys, according to an official, were also found by the agency.
According to sources, six teams of CBI agents raided the homes of local Trinamool Congress figures, including Kerim Khan and his close friend Ziaul Haque, in Illambazar and Nanoor.
Among those searched were the residences of Abdul Karim Khan, a Trinamool Congress (TMC) local politician who is reputed to be close to Anubrata Mondol, the party’s Birbhum chief.
Kerim Khan has been absconding for quite some time and his mobile number is also unreachable,” one of the officials said.
According to the CBI’s First Information Report (FIR) in the case, livestock were devalued and sold at auction with the assistance of some customs employees so that dealers could purchase them for incredibly low prices and resell them in Bangladesh. Some TMC leaders and government officials are said to have benefited financially from the deal.
Mamata Banerjee’s chief minister is thought to be friendly with Mondol. The national working committee of the TMC has only ever accepted one district president. After evading the CBI’s summons for 13 months, Mondal was first interrogated in Kolkata on May 19.
A number of officers from the state police, Border Security Force (BSF), and Customs agency are suspected in the incident. Additionally detained in the investigation are two BSF members and a state policeman.
