By Dipaneeta Das: A senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Udayan Guha on Sunday said that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was involved in the alleged cattle smuggling case in West Bengal and called for the arrest of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
“One must know that it is not possible to smuggle cattle across the border without the help of the Border Security Force (BSF). Thus, the central agencies must nab Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Bengal’s Minister for Home Affairs Nishit Pramanik,” he said.
The senior TMC leader said that the cattle that were allegedly smuggled are not found in Bengal and were brought from other states such as Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
“The cattle were not transported via flight to Birbhum district from where Anubrata Mondal smuggled them. The consignment crossed several state borders which are run by the BJP but no BJP leader is being arrested anywhere,” he said.
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Reacting to Guha’s claims, Bengal BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya told India Today that it is beyond the party’s dignity to comment on such “vile statements”.
“This is TMC’s last resort to gain some attention. There is no proof of the malicious claims that the TMC is making. It is shameful that a public leader is making such disturbing comments,” he said, adding that such leaders are indulging in foolery.
TMC leader Anubrata Mondal was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in August 2022 and by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in November 2022 for allegedly smuggling cattle across the Indo-Bangladesh border. He is currently in Tihar jail.
The TMC leader’s name came up in the case after the CBI registered an FIR in 2020. According to the CBI, between 2015 and 2017, over 20,000 cattle heads had been seized by the Border Security Force (BSF) as they were being smuggled across the border.
The TMC leader’s daughter Sukanya Mondal was also arrested by the ED in connection with the case on April 26 this year.
At a public rally on Sunday, senior TMC leader and Bengal Development Minister Udayan Guha said that cows that were illegally smuggled across the border were brought from BJP-ruled states.
(With inputs from Prabir Kundu)
