New Delhi, Sep 23 The CBI on Wednesday carried out searches at 15 locations in Delhi, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, including the residence of Border Security Force (BSF) Commandant Satish Kumar, in an illegal cross-border cattle trade case.
A senior Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) official told : "The agency carried out searches at 15 places in Kolkata, Murshidabad, Ghaziabad, Raipur, Delhi, Siliguri, and Amritsar in connection with the case."
The official said that the agency carried out searches in Raipur, Ghaziabad, Delhi, Murshidabad and the Siliguri premises of Kumar, who is currently posted in Raipur.
The CBI registered a case against Kumar, Mohammad Enamul Haque, Aranul SK, Mohammad Golam Mustafa and other unknown persons on charges of misconduct by public servants after a Preliminary Enquiry revealed the involvement of officers posted on the India-Bangladesh border in the illegal trade.
The CBI official said that cattle were taken from India to Bangladesh after paying illegal gratification to BSF personnel manning the International Border.
Kumar, during his posting in West Bengal between December 2015 and April 2017, allegedly seized over 20,000 cows before they could be transported to Bangladesh, but the vehicles involved were not seized.
The CBI alleged that the BSF officer in connivance with Customs officials and smugglers auctioned the seized cattle within 24 hours.
"The smugglers named in the case paid money to accused officials. Customs officials also used to take bribe of 10 per cent of the auction price from successful bidders named in the case," the CBI said.
"Bhuvan Bhaskar, a son of the BSF officer, was employed in Haque Industries Pvt Ltd, a company promoted by Haque. Bhuvan was paid Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 as salary per month between May 2017 and December 2017, which reflects his links with the cattle smuggling racket," the CBI said in its FIR.
The CBI claimed that only certain smugglers were allowed to buy cattle at very low prices in auctions. After showing in the records that the cattle were disposed off in the local markets, the animals were smuggled to Bangladesh.
( With inputs from IANS )
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