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The Rouse Avenue Court here on Monday sent chartered accountant Manish Kothari, close aide of jailed TMC strongman Anubrata Mondal, to 14-day judicial custody in connection with the West Bengal cattle smuggling case.
Kothari was recently arrested by the ED after being questioned at the ED headquarters for nearly 10 hours. Special Judge Raghvir Singh on Monday decided to send Kothari to judicial custody for 14 days, noting that ED doesn't seeks further custodial remand of him. TMC's Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondal, close aide of chief minister Mamata Banerjee, was earlier arrested by the CBI in connection with the same case last year. Recently, the ED also arrested him in the alleged multi-crore cattle smuggling scam after questioning him inside the Asansol jail where he was lodged. The economic intelligence agency is also learnt to have planned to question Mondal's daughter, Sukanya and 10 other people in the case in the coming days. After arresting the Birbhum TMC president on August 12, last year, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) summoned and questioned Sukanya Mondal in its Delhi headquarters a few months ago. However, according to sources, she did not disclose much to the CBI at that time. The TMC leader Anubrata Mondal is facing an ED probe in the alleged money laundering case related to West Bengal's cattle smuggling case. Enamul Hoque, who is the kingpin in the cattle smuggling case, and Saigal Hussain, Anubrata Mondal's bodyguard, are in Tihar jail and the ED is planning to question them as well. Mondal was picked up by the CBI from his Bolpur home after the central probe agency said it had found his direct involvement in the cattle smuggling scam. The TMC leader's name came up after the CBI registered an FIR in 2020. As per CBI investigation, over 20,000 cattle heads were seized by the Border Security Force (BSF) between 2015 and 2017 as they were being smuggled across the border. (ANI)
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