Racket of cattle smuggling in Bengal – CBI arrests leader of Trinamool Congress

CBI arrests a Trinamool Congress leader of Birbhum district in Bengal. He is Anubrata Mondal and is suspected of having links to a cattle smuggling racket. It seems the nexus includes senior BSF officers, other politicians and officials of the local administration. The state Criminal Investigation Department CID has already nabbed a person on charges of coal smuggling. That was on July 22 and investigation revealed his links to the cattle smuggling racket. This smuggling operation was in and around Basirhat in North 24 Parganas district. He had an accomplice who operated in other districts of Malda and Murshidabad. The money involved in cattle smuggling was in the range of Rs 1,500-2,000 crore and persons at various levels received pay offs. The list included politicians, police, administration and BSF officers. Cattle smuggling racket that TMC's Anubrata Mondal was involved in had a deep nexus.

The Border Security Force BSF had informed the Union Home Ministry about the extent of smuggling on the India-Bangladesh border. The BSF also shared a list of officers suspected to be involved in the racket. The CBI and ED arrested two of them in January 2018 and April 2022. Court martial proceedings are also initiated against two other BSF officers since April 2019. During interrogation, the name of a minister’s son, who is an MLA in UP surfaced. He is believed to be a beneficiary of the proceeds of cattle smuggling. As an official of the BSF admitted - “The illegal enterprise was most rampant between 2014 and 2019 when the politician-BSF-police nexus made windfall gains.”

Some popular stories in this and related sites –

Independence of India – I was there on that day

Sister of Kim Jong-un reveals her brother had ‘fever’ during the Covid pandemic

Accident in Legoland Park in Germany leaves at least 34 people injured

Taiwan readies its army to counter military exercises by China

Prince William to visit Boston for second annual Earthshot Prize

Floods in Seoul take lives, paralyzes the city – another instance of climate crisis

Assets and properties of 19 TMC leaders including some ministers under scanner

Bali converts Boeing aircraft to tourist destination and Singapore Airlines converted Airbus into restaurant

Pomp and glamour in Durga Puja in Bengal

Preparations for Durga Puja 2022

Sarpuria and sarbhaja of Bengal set to get GI tag for Bengali sweets

Sarpuria and sarbhaja are two favorite sweets of Bengal that are trying to get Geographical Indication (GI) status. These are created by the sweet-makers of Nadia district.
Sarpuria is made by mixing cottage cheese (chhana) with sugar, kheer, groundnut, cardamom, pistachio and saffron and steaming it. Sarbhaja is fried cottage cheese with layer of kheer with cream (sar) and dipped in sugar syrup. Both are out-of-this-world delicacies.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 29 September 2016.

An organization representing the sweet-makers has contacted the Bengal government to lobby with the Center on this count. The authorities have indicated that they are examining the matter before sending it to the Intellectual Property Appellate Board in Chennai. This is the center designated government authority that issues the GI tag.
GI is a name or sign that is used on certain products which corresponds to a specific geographical location or origin (for example a town, region or country). The GI indication is a sort of certification that the product possesses certain qualities, is made according to traditional methods and enjoys a certain reputation because of its geographical origin.
So far, ten items from Bengal have received the GI status. These are Darjeeling tea, Nakshi kantha, Santipur sari, Baluchari sari, Dhaniakhali sari, Joynagarer moa, Santiniketan leather goods and three varieties of mangoes - Laxman Bhog, Himsagar and Fazli.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


Some more interesting links -

For pandal hoppers during Durga Pujas in Jamshedpur - try the pool bus service

Rejuvenate the lakes of Bengaluru - bring back the birds

Bengal unable to hold on to homegrown start-ups - they end up flourishing in other states


Lord Shiva in the world of deodorants (satire)

Didi off to Rome in search of goodies (satire)

Moody learns about honey traps (satire)


Syrian ceasefire breaks down - airstrike in Aleppo claims at least 45 civilian casualties

Construction begins on the Great Wall Of Calais to keep out illegal migrants

MI6 to recruit 1000 extra people to assist in solving modern day crimes


Tamil film Visaranai is India's official entry for Academy Awards 2017

Tension on the Indo-Pak border has its effect on Bollywood movies

Shah Rukh Khan could make a movie on tennis star Sania Mirza