Kolkata, Aug 15 (IANS) The West Bengal Police on Saturday arrested a senior official of the state Land and Land Revenue Department for his alleged links with an absconding stone quarry owner, Tulu Mondal alias Mohammad Nazibuddin, in Birbhum district.
The arrested official has been identified as Probir Das, head assistant at the Suri sub-divisional office of the Land and Land Revenue Department. A team of Birbhum District Police conducted a night-long raid at his residence in Suri and subsequently took him into custody.
Das was produced before a district court in Birbhum later on Saturday, which remanded him to six-day police custody.
Public prosecutor Bivas Chattopadhyay told the court that five mobile phones were seized during the raid and search operation. He said investigators had found incriminating evidence indicating Das’s alleged links with Mondal’s illegal stone quarrying and stone trading operations.
Das’s wife, Sathi Das, however, claimed that her husband was innocent and had no involvement in the alleged activities.
Mondal has been absconding since a major seizure earlier this month brought him under the scanner of both the Birbhum District Police and the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Cash amounting to Rs 28 crore and 15 kg of gold, valued at around Rs 22 crore, were recovered from the residence of his close relative, Minar Mondal.
During interrogation, Minar reportedly told investigators that the cash and gold belonged to Tulu and that he had merely been entrusted with keeping them in his possession.
After Mondal had gone into hiding, a Birbhum district court issued a “Hulia”, a court notice or warrant containing details of a wanted fugitive. Earlier, a red-corner notice was issued against him as well.
Mondal, who reportedly began his career as a daily wager, saw a rapid rise in his fortunes during the previous Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government. He was regarded as a close associate of former Birbhum district TMC president Anubrata Mondal.
Anubrata had spent months in custody after being arrested by the CBI and later the ED in connection with the multi-crore cattle smuggling case in West Bengal. He is currently associated with the “rebel but majority” faction of the TMC led by Ritabrata Banerjee.
The ED has also initiated preparations for a probe into Tulu Mondal’s activities. Officials of the central agency are collecting information from the Birbhum District Police.
Mondal’s name had surfaced in the cattle smuggling case in 2022, when the ED had raided his residence and office as part of its investigation.
–IANS
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