Cattle smuggling case: CBI questions TMC’s Anubrata Mondal over ₹1 crore lottery win

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has launched an investigation into the ₹1 crore lottery prize money allegedly won by West Bengal’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Anubrata Mondal.

In August, Mondal was arrested by the CBI in connection with the cattle smuggling case. On October 29, a special CBI court reject his bail plea and extended his judicial custody till November 11.

On Saturday (November 5), the agency questioned him at a special prison in West Bengal’s Asansol, about the alleged lottery prize.

Also read: Anubrata Mondal arrest sheds light on multi-crore cow smuggling racket

“We went to the prison to question Mr. Mondal about the lottery he won. We are tallying his responses with the statement given by the lottery ticket seller with whom we spoke on Friday,” a CBI officer was quoted as saying by PTI.

Mondal was asked about where and how was the money he won from the lottery was spent, he said.

The investigators suspect that ill-gotten money from cattle smuggling was washed through means involving such lottery draws.

Also read: Mysterious witnesses leave a hole in CBI’s Bengal cattle smuggling case

The lottery ticket on which Mondal won ₹1 crore earlier this year was allegedly purchased by one of his bodyguards on his behalf, sources said.

On Friday, CBI officials visited the lottery shop in Bengal’s Birbhum district and sought details of the ticket Mondal had bought.

A senior official of the CBI said the officials spoke to the owner of the shop in Bolpur and other persons employed there.

“We sought details of the ticket on which Mondal won the cash prize of Rs 1 crore. As they could not provide us with the details, we asked them to visit our office in Bolpur with all information,” the official told PTI.

Asked what could be the connection between Mondal winning the lottery to the cattle smuggling case, the CBI officer said that the agency suspects that proceeds earned from the “crime” was “actually diverted to the lottery business to make black money white”.

“There are high chances that the black money earned from cattle smuggling was used in the lottery business. We are investigating the matter. We are talking to several people,” the CBI officer said.

Sheikh Munna who sold the winning lottery ticket told the media that he did not sell it to Mondal. “I sell tickets in local villages. I can’t remember who bought it but it was certainly not Anubrata Mondal,” he said.

Mondal’s daughter Sukanya was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is probing the money trail in the cattle smuggling case, at its Delhi headquarters on Wednesday.

(With agency inputs)