West Bengal: CBI freezes fixed deposits of over Rs 16.97 crore of arrested TMC leader Anubrata Mondal

Kolkata: The CBI on Wednesday traced and froze fixed deposits amounting to over 16.97 crore rupees in the name of Anubrata Mondal and his family members during investigation of a case related to alleged illegal cross- border trade of cattle.

No sooner had such a recovery been made by the central agency, the opposition started slamming the TMC strongman Mondal and called the recovery to be ‘tip of the iceberg’ and mentioned that more crores are yet to be recovered.

Mondal is being quizzed at CBI headquarters at Nizam Palace about the sources of the money and also whether the money came from cattle smuggling.

Earlier this day, the CBI quizzed Manish Kothari, the accountant of Mondal for over two hours and following a hint from the accountant the CBI team visited a national bank following which they traced such a huge amount of fixed deposit under Mondal and his relative’s name.

After the accountant, the CBI team also visited Mondal’s residence to quiz his daughter Sukanya Mondal but after her refusal the team left the residence within 10 minutes.

According to CBI sources, Sukanya had refused to speak with the central agency.

“Sukanya said that recently she had lost her mother and her father is in CBI custody for which she is not in the proper frame to be quizzed by the central agency,” said the CBI sources.

The four member CBI officers including a woman officer then visited the court to seek ways to quiz Sukanya soon as according to the agency sources several properties were found under Sukanya’s name.

It may be recalled that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on August 14 stood by Mondal and had questioned his arrest by CBI.

“Why did you arrest Keshto? What was his fault? If you arrest one Keshto there will be more leaders like him. Keshto’s house was in a state of rampage after the visit of the agencies. Keshto is a good leader and he never wants anything. Despite several requests, he never wanted to become MLA, MP or didn’t want to go to Rajya Sabha. When Keshto’s wife was on deathbed even then due to her insistence Keshto worked for the party,” Mamata was heard saying while slamming the BJP led central government.

It is pertinent to mention that apart from Mondal, almost 50 crore rupees cash and jewelry and properties worth rupees several crores were found from suspended TMC leader Partha Chatterjee’s close aide Arpita Mukherjee’s residence.