CBI smells a rat as lottery luck frequently shines on TMC's Anubrata Mondal

Incarcerated Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Anubrata Mondal’s “luck” with lottery has thrown up a new challenge for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths probing multi-crore cattle smuggling case in West Bengal.

To nail down Mondal in the scam it is vital to establish that his deposits in banks and other movable and immovable assets are ill-gotten wealth, multiple sources involved in the investigation said.

ED interrogates daughter

To unearth the alleged link, the CBI has been digging into bank accounts of the TMC leader and his daughter Sukanya Mondal.

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

Sukanya was interrogated for three consecutive days in New Delhi by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) last week to find the source of her assets.

The money trail, however, led to what is now suspected to be a lottery scam.

The CBI has found deposits of over ₹1.5 crore were made to their bank accounts from the prize money of four lotteries the father and daughter duo had won in the last three years.

“The serial lottery wins within a span of little over three years is not a mere coincidence. We suspect there were some underhand dealings to convert the cattle smuggling money into legitimate income,” said a CBI source.

₹1 crore prize money

The Opposition has been accusing the ruling TMC of laundering money in connivance either with lottery distributors or companies.

Also read: Anubrata Mondal arrested by CBI in cattle smuggling case

BJP legislature party leader Suvendu Adhikari had also raised a similar allegation after TMC MLA Vivek Gupta’s wife Ruchika on August 31 this year won the first prize of ₹1 crore in “Dear Lotteries’ run by the Nagaland government.

Mondal had also bagged the first prize of ₹1 crore in the Nagaland government’s Dear Lotteries in December last year, a second such win for him. As per his bank transaction records, a lottery prize money of ₹10 lakh was credited to his account in 2019.

The same year (2019), Sukanya too coincidentally won two back-to-back lotteries amounting to ₹51 lakh. The amount was credited to her bank account.

The CBI sources said they were yet to ascertain whether the winning ticket was actually sold to the TMC leader.

Lottery seller questioned

The sleuths of the investigating agency had questioned a lottery seller Bapi Gangopadhyay who issued the particular ticket. He reportedly told the CBI that he did not recollect selling the ticket to Mondal.

The CBI officials also interrogated Shiekh Ainul of a Bolpur-based lottery agency to find who had purchased the particular ticket.

Mondal’s photograph and name as the jackpot winner were published in the website of the lottery company. The prize money was bagged against a lottery ticket of ₹6.

There could be two possibilities here, the CBI source said.

“They (father and daughter) might have got the tickets paying the prize money to the original winners to legitimise their black money,” he said. “The worst case scenario will be the involvement of the lottery company in manipulating the result.”

The CBI is looking into all the possibilities, the official said.

Mondal is currently lodged in Asansol jail for his alleged involvement in the scam.