News Analysis India

Tag: TMC leader

  • CBI questions TMC leader Debraj Chakraborty in BJP activist’s murder

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: The CBI on Tuesday questioned TMC leader Debraj Chakraborty in connection with the murder of a BJP activist that happened after last year’s assembly elections, an officer said.

    Chakraborty, a councillor of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation and the husband of TMC MLA Aditi Munshi, was questioned in the murder case of Prasenjit Das.

    Das’s body was found hanging outside his residence in Baguiati in North 24 Parganas on May 23 last year.

    Chakraborty was not named in the FIR, but the CBI found his alleged involvement in the case during the investigation and so questioned him, the officer said.

    He was questioned for around two hours at the CBI office at CGO Complex in Bidhannagar.

    Chakraborty, the president of Trinamool Youth Congress’ Dum Dum and Barrackpore units, said he will be cooperating with the CBI in the investigation.

    On the Calcutta High Court’s orders to probe post-poll violence in West Bengal, the CBI has registered a case of abetment to suicide against nine people, including two staffers of the Baguiati police station, as complained by the victim’s mother to a magistrate, officials said.

    Das’s mother had filed a case before the Barasat magistrate, alleging that her complaint about her son’s murder was not registered by the Baguiati police station.

    She alleged that officials had forcefully taken away her son’s body, conducted post-mortem without consent and later cremated it.

    The CBI has named Prasad Maity, Manotosh Biswas, Bapi Golder, Anitesh Mondal, Dipankar Singha, Bishnu Das, Biswajit Das, and Baguiati police station officials Pallab Majhi and Sampa Chakraborty as accused in the FIR.

    KOLKATA: The CBI on Tuesday questioned TMC leader Debraj Chakraborty in connection with the murder of a BJP activist that happened after last year’s assembly elections, an officer said.

    Chakraborty, a councillor of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation and the husband of TMC MLA Aditi Munshi, was questioned in the murder case of Prasenjit Das.

    Das’s body was found hanging outside his residence in Baguiati in North 24 Parganas on May 23 last year.

    Chakraborty was not named in the FIR, but the CBI found his alleged involvement in the case during the investigation and so questioned him, the officer said.

    He was questioned for around two hours at the CBI office at CGO Complex in Bidhannagar.

    Chakraborty, the president of Trinamool Youth Congress’ Dum Dum and Barrackpore units, said he will be cooperating with the CBI in the investigation.

    On the Calcutta High Court’s orders to probe post-poll violence in West Bengal, the CBI has registered a case of abetment to suicide against nine people, including two staffers of the Baguiati police station, as complained by the victim’s mother to a magistrate, officials said.

    Das’s mother had filed a case before the Barasat magistrate, alleging that her complaint about her son’s murder was not registered by the Baguiati police station.

    She alleged that officials had forcefully taken away her son’s body, conducted post-mortem without consent and later cremated it.

    The CBI has named Prasad Maity, Manotosh Biswas, Bapi Golder, Anitesh Mondal, Dipankar Singha, Bishnu Das, Biswajit Das, and Baguiati police station officials Pallab Majhi and Sampa Chakraborty as accused in the FIR.

  • TMC leader Anubrata Mondal skips CBI appearance in cattle smuggling case

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mondal has informed the CBI that he would be unable to appear before it on Monday in connection with its investigation into a cattle smuggling case, an agency source said.

    Mondal, the party’s Birbhum district president, is understood to have sent an email expressing his inability to appear before the central probe agency, due to a medical check-up.

    CBI officials have admitted to receiving Mondal’s email, the source said.

    The TMC leader is on his way to state-run SSKM Hospital in the metropolis for a health check-up, a party source said.

    The CBI had summoned Mondal, TMC’s Birbhum district president, on August 5 to appear before it on Monday.

    Mondal has earlier been questioned twice by the central agency as part of its investigation.

    The CBI has in the recent past conducted raids at various locations in the district in connection with the case.

    Mondal’s bodyguard Saigal Hossain has also been arrested by the probe agency.

    KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mondal has informed the CBI that he would be unable to appear before it on Monday in connection with its investigation into a cattle smuggling case, an agency source said.

    Mondal, the party’s Birbhum district president, is understood to have sent an email expressing his inability to appear before the central probe agency, due to a medical check-up.

    CBI officials have admitted to receiving Mondal’s email, the source said.

    The TMC leader is on his way to state-run SSKM Hospital in the metropolis for a health check-up, a party source said.

    The CBI had summoned Mondal, TMC’s Birbhum district president, on August 5 to appear before it on Monday.

    Mondal has earlier been questioned twice by the central agency as part of its investigation.

    The CBI has in the recent past conducted raids at various locations in the district in connection with the case.

    Mondal’s bodyguard Saigal Hossain has also been arrested by the probe agency.

  • TMC leader Biman Banerjee elected Speaker of WB Legislative Assembly for third time

     TMC leader Biman Banerjee has been elected Speaker of West Bengal Legislative Assembly for third time.

    Also, Chief Secretary Mamata Banerjee has been called upon to see Governor today before 7 PM as ACS Home failed to impart status report on law and order regarding post poll violence. He even did not forward reports of DGP of WB Police and Kolkata CP sent to him on May 3.

    Rs 30,000 crores is nothing for the central government… There should be a universal vaccine program for all throughout the country: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the state Assembly

  • CBI summons TMC’s Anubrata Mandal in cattle smuggling case

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The anti-corruption branch of the CBI on Monday summoned TMC leader Anubrata Mandal for questioning in connection with its probe into cross-border cattle smuggling.

    Sources said Mandal, the Birbhum district president of the TMC, has been asked to appear before officials of the central agency on Tuesday at its Nizam Palace office here.

    The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which has been probing cases of illegal cattle trade for quite some time, has said that animals are sourced from different places and smuggled out via the India-Bangladesh border.

    The CBI, in its first chargesheet, has named at least seven accused, including BSF commandant Satish Kumar and businessman Enamul Haq.

    Both Haq and Kumar have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the case.

    The agency has also raided properties of TMC leader Vinay Mishra, who is considered o be a close aide of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee.

  • ED attaches Kolkata asset of TMC youth leader, brother in cattle-smuggling case

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The ED on Thursday said it has attached an asset of TMC youth leader Vinay Mishra and his arrested brother Vikas Mishra in a money-laundering case linked to alleged cattle smuggling across the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal.

    The agency said a provisional order for the attachment of the immovable property located at 1, Dharamdas Row in Kolkata has been issued by it under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

    In a statement, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said the property was “acquired by them (the Mishra brothers) in May, 2017 by way of shares purchase of a company called Anant Tradecom Private Limited”.

    “The shares of this company were acquired by the Mishra family by paying the consideration of Rs 3.5 crore to the earlier shareholders,” it said.

    Describing the link of the brothers with the cattle-smuggling case, the agency alleged that “between October, 2016-March 2017, Vinay Mishra and Vikas Mishra received funds amounting to Rs 6.1 crore from cattle smuggler Md Enamul Haque”.

    “For purchasing the shares of Anant Tradecom Private Limited, funds were layered by way of accommodation entries from two Kolkata-based shell companies and by way of cash deposits in the accounts of the members of the Mishra family,” the ED alleged.

    The property that has been attached was acquired by the Mishra brothers by “laundering” the proceeds of crime, it claimed.

    The two are being probed both by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in this case and Haque was arrested by the CBI in November last year.

    In a chargesheet filed before a special court in West Bengal’s Asansol, the CBI had alleged that Haque was the mastermind of the illegal cattle trade and was assisted by two other accused in alleged connivance with Border Security Force (BSF) Commandant Satish Kumar, who was posted at the Murshidabad and Malda regions of the state.

    Some others have also been named in the CBI chargesheet in connection with cattle smuggling that is rampant along the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal.

    Vinay Mishra, who has not joined the probe in the case by the two agencies till now, has been named as an accused by the CBI in a supplementary chargesheet filed recently.

    The role of the brothers is also being investigated by the two central agencies in an illegal coal mining and pilferage case.

    Vikas Mishra was recently arrested by the ED here in the latter case.

    The agency has claimed that the brothers received “proceeds of crime worth Rs 730 crore on behalf of some influential persons and for themselves” in the alleged illegal coal-mining case involving an estimated amount of Rs 1,300 crore.

    These actions come as the eight-phase election to the 294-member West Bengal Assembly is set to begin on March 27.

  • Cattle and coal scam: ED conducts searches at TMC leader Vinay Mishra’s Kolkata residence

    By ANI
    KOLKATA: The Enforcement Directorate is conducting search operations at the residence of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Vinay Mishra in Kolkata in connection with cattle and coal scam, sources informed on Friday.

    Earlier on January 27, an arrest warrant has been issued against the TMC leader in a cattle smuggling case by the Asansol Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court.

    The Central Bureau of Investigation had also conducted raids at the Mishra’s residence on December 31 in connection with the same case. A lookout notice was also issued against him.  

  • Not allowed to work, will quit the party: Two-time TMC MLA Dipak Haldar

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Amid ongoing exodus from TMC ahead of the assembly polls, two-time MLA from Diamond Harbour Dipak Haldar Monday lashed out at the party leadership for not allowing him to work for the masses, and said he would quit the party soon, fuelling speculations of his possible switchover to the BJP.

    Haldar, however, remained tight-lipped on joining the saffron camp.

    “I am a two-time MLA. But, since 2017, I am not allowed to work properly for the masses. Despite informing the leadership, no action was taken to improve the situation. I am not informed about any party programme. I am answerable to the people of my constituency and supporters. So I have decided to quit the party. I will send my resignation to the district and state president soon,” he said.

    For the last few months, Haldar has been speaking against the party leadership.

    Haldar, considered to be a close associate of BJP leader Sovan Chatterjee, since his days in the TMC, recently met the latter at his residence in South Kolkata.

    The TMC leadership declined to comment on the matter.

    In 2015, Haldar was suspended from the party after he was arrested for his alleged involvement in a clash between rival factions of the party’s students’ front in a district’s college.

    Later he was out on bail and was reinstated in the party.

    Since the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, when the BJP bagged 18 seats, just four less than the ruling TMC and emerged as its main challenger in Bengal, 17 MLAs of the Trinamool Congress, one TMC MP, three belonging to the Congress the CPI(M) each and one from CPI have crossed over to the saffron camp.

    However, except for the former state cabinet ministers Suvendu Adhikari and Rajib Banerjee, none of them resigned as MLAs.

    Elections to the 294-member West Bengal assembly are likely to be held in April-May this year.