The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Manish Kothari, the chartered accountant of Anubrata Mondal, in connection with the West Bengal cattle smuggling case. Mondal, a senior leader in West Bengal politics, was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in August 2022 and is currently in custody.
Kothari was questioned multiple times in Bengal last year and was summoned to the ED’s Delhi office on Tuesday morning. According to officials, Kothari helped Mondal siphon money through shell companies, and several discrepancies were found in his statements during questioning.
The agency has also summoned Mondal’s daughter Sukanya for questioning on Wednesday. She was previously summoned to Delhi twice last year and denied knowledge of properties and monetary transactions linked to her and her father.
Sukanya Mondal is a primary school teacher appointed by the state government in 2011 and is the director of two companies and owns a rice mill in Birbhum’s Bolpur. CBI officials allege that Mondal was involved in a number of land and property deeds executed in or after 2014, with at least two dozen of these properties belonging to him.
The agency suspects that profits from cattle smuggling were used to purchase the properties, which are registered in the names of Mondal’s relatives, aides, and their kin.
Kothari’s arrest is the latest development in the ongoing investigation into the West Bengal cattle smuggling case, which has been the subject of much controversy in recent years. The case has sparked political tensions between the ruling party in West Bengal and the central government, with both sides accusing each other of using the case for political gain.
The Enforcement Directorate’s investigation into the case is ongoing, and more arrests are expected in the coming weeks. The agency is also looking into allegations of money laundering and illegal transfer of funds in connection with the case.
The case has raised questions about the use of shell companies and other financial instruments to evade taxes and launder money, highlighting the need for greater transparency and accountability in the financial sector.
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