Kolkata: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested the alleged kingpin of a cattle smuggling racket, Enamul Haque from Delhi on Friday.
He was booked along with a BSF official for allegedly running the cattle smuggling gang.
On Thursday, the CBI had searched the premises of two chartered accountants in Kolkata in connection with the case, officials said. The agency had booked Satish Kumar, a former commandant of the 36 BSF Battalion now posted in Raipur, alleged kingpin Haque and two others, Anarul SK and Mohammed Golam Mustafa, the officials said.
It is alleged that the cattle smugglers were bribing BSF and Customs officials to keep their nefarious business running. Haque was operating at the India-Bangladesh border, officials further informed.
A team from CBI Kolkata will soon reach Delhi to bring Haque to Kolkata on transit remand and will produce him at the CBI court, Kolkata.
Haque was earlier arrested by the Kerala unit of CBI during 2018, in connection with a bribery case from Kolkata. He was taken to Ernakulam on transit remand. During January 2018, CBI had arrested Jibu D Mathew, then Commandant of the 83 Battallion of BSF from Ernakulam Junction Railway Station in Kerala when he was travelling in Shalimar Express to reach Kayamkulam.
The investigating officers had found Rs 50 lakh cash in a blue colour trolley bag that he was carrying. Investigation later revealed that he had taken the money from smugglers in Indo-Bangla border as illegal gratification for the favours he made to them in the capacity of BSF commandant. Few months after the arrest Haque was granted bail in the bribery case. According to sources, Haque, a Murshidabad based trader is the kingpin of cattle smuggling through the Indo-Bangla border in the state. He was well connected with several BSF officers who had allegedly helped him to continue the ill trade. Earlier during September this year, CBI had booked a former Commandant of the 36 BSF Battalion, Satish Kumar and three others, including Haque, over rampant cattle smuggling on the Indo-Bangla border.
The agency had also carried out searches at 15 locations spread across Delhi; West Bengal's Kolkata, Siliguri and Murshidabad; Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad, Punjab's Amritsar and Chhattisgarh's Raipur. The case was registered against Kumar, the former Commandant of the 36 BSF Battalion, Haque along with two of his associates, Anarul Sheikh and Mohammed Golam Mustafa. CBI had started inquiring about the cattle smuggling in April, 2018 to unearth his connections with other government officials who facilitated his nefarious business.
Kumar was posted as Commandant of the 36 BSF Battalion in Malda district between December, 2015 and April, 2017 with four companies under him deployed in Murshidabad and two in Malda along the
border.
During his posting, the BSF seized over 20,000 cows meant for smuggling, but vehicles to transport them were not seized and smugglers were never arrested. with agency inputs