Birbhum leader Anubrata Mondal’s daughter Sukanya arrested by ED; TMC reacts
An ED official alleged that Sukanya Mondal did not have an explanation to many questions put to her about their properties and bank matters
KOLKATA: Sukanya Mondal, daughter of arrested Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mondal, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in national capital Delhi on Wednesday for her alleged role in the cattle smuggling case.
A senior ED official said Sukanya was arrested after being questioned by investigators. She will be produced before a judge at Rouse Avenue courts on Thursday.
“She was arrested for her role in the cattle smuggling scam and the money laundering involved. There were large cash transactions in her bank accounts and huge properties registered in her name disproportionate to her income. She had no explanation and always pointed to her father and his chartered accountant,” said the ED official.
Sukanya, who was appointed as a primary school teacher by the state government in 2011 when the TMC first came to power, is the director of two companies, Neer Developer Pvt Ltd and ANM Agrochem Foods Pvt Ltd, according to ED She also owns a rice mill in Birbhum’s Bolpur town where the Mondals live.
Her father Anubrata was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on August 11, 2022 and was named as an accused in CBI’s fourth charge sheet filed at the Asansol court on October 7. Mondal was later arrested by ED on November 17 in connection with money laundering charges linked to the case.
“Law will take its own course. TMC will not defend anyone. Sukanya has recently lost her mother and her father is now in jail. Couldn’t she have been interrogated at home? Was her arrest a political vendetta just because her father is a TMC leader?” Kunal Ghosh, TMC spokesperson, told the media.
Anubrata’s accountant Manish Kothari was arrested in connection with the same case in March this year. Anubrata’s former bodyguard, Sehgal Hossain, a state police constable, was arrested by CBI on June 10 last year. Anubrata, Kothari and Hossain are all lodged in the Tihar jail.
West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar said Sukanya’s arrest was inevitable and only a matter of time. “She was called multiple times for questioning but she avoided them. Media reports suggest she has huge properties in her name for which she has no explanation,” he said.