Anubrata's aide grilled by CBI in cattle smuggling case

The CBI on Thursday questioned Abdul Karim Khan, a close associate of TMC leader Anubrata Mondal, in connection with its investigation into the cattle smuggling case, an official said.

Khan, also a TMC leader of West Bengal's Birbhum district, appeared for questioning before the CBI at its office in CGO Complex in Salt Lake near Kolkata, he said.

The investigators grilled him to gauge his alleged involvement in the smuggling of cattle, the officer said.

The CBI had interrogated him at its camp office in Bolpur in Birbhum last month.

Mondal, the party's Birbhum district president, was arrested on August 11 in the case.

It is alleged that Mondal provided protection to associates of alleged cattle smuggler Enamul Haq who used to buy animals at a market in Ilambazar, officials said.

The smugglers used to ferry animals from Ilambazar to the India-Bangladesh border under the alleged protection of Mondal from state enforcement agencies, they said.

They used the services of some BSF officials to get these cattle smuggled to Bangladesh, it is alleged.