Kolkata, Aug 2 (IANS) A probe has begun into how absconding Birbhum‑based stone quarry owner Tulu Mondal, also known as Mohammad Nazibuddin, managed to bag 84 government construction contracts during the previous Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress regime in West Bengal.
The matter of Mondal-owned corporate entity, ‘Mondal Stone Products’, getting so many government construction contracts has also come under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which has already started the preparatory process for initiating its own investigation against Mondal and the huge assets that he accumulated during the previous regime in the state, sources aware of the development said.
Before starting an investigation officially into the matter, the ED has started procuring information about Mondal and businesses from the Birbhum District Police, which have already started a probe into the matter.
The district police had already sealed his palatial residence in Suri in the same district on July 31. His house was sealed after huge cash and gold worth around Rs 50 crore were seized from the residence of one of his close relatives, Minar Mondal, on July 30. During police interrogation, Minar confessed that Tulu Mondal actually owned the seized cash and gold and that he had only been given the responsibility for keeping them in his residence.
During the course of investigation, the state police have found that in the last five years, Mondal Stone Products was awarded as many as 84 government construction contracts, despite the company not having prior experience in the related field.
Sources aware of the development said the state government construction contracts awarded to Mondal were not only restricted to Birbhum but also in adjacent districts like West Burdwan and East Burdwan. The construction projects awarded to his company included road projects under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), the state government’s own road construction scheme, ‘Pathashree’, as well as construction of river dams.
Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has already informed that the administration had frozen Rs 93 crore in various accounts belonging to Mondal. He also said that Mondal’s massive corruption empire was not built in a day and would not have been possible without the backing of former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Tulu Mondal was known in the district as a close confidant of Anubrata Mondal, the former Trinamool Congress’ Birbhum district president, who had earlier spent days behind bars after being arrested first by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and then by the ED in 2022 in connection with his involvement in the cattle smuggling case in West Bengal.
Tulu Mondal’s name had also come up in the cattle smuggling case. He was under the watch of the ED in 2022. At that time, the Central investigators raided his house and office.
–IANS
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