Kolkata, Aug 19 One of the five high-end SUVs found parked at the rice mill, owned by arrested Trinamool Congress strongman Anubrata Mondal's daughter Sukanya Mondal, at Bolpur in Birbhum district, was actually forcibly taken from them as a "gift", two local businessman alleged on Friday.
The allegations were made by businessmen Anupratan Bhattacharya and his partner Probir Mondal, who run a construction and repair business, soon after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths conducted a raid at the rice mill on Friday morning.
Bhattacharya claimed that he and his partner expressed interest in the tender for the Tilpara Barrage repair project.
"Since nothing moves in the entire Birbhum district without the consent of Anubrata Mondal, we approached him and he demanded Rs 10 crore for awarding the major part of the tender to us. But we were unable to pay that huge amount and reached a settlement at Rs 5.53 crore. We paid an amount of Rs 1.50 crore up front to the Birbhum district President. The remaining amount of Rs 4.03 crore was paid later to his bodyguard, Sehgal Hossain," he claimed.
However, Probir Mondal alleged that the greed of the Trinamool Congress's Birbhum district President did not end there.
"At that time, I purchased a Ford Endeavour for my personal use. Anubrata Mondal demanded that vehicle from me as a gift. Initially, I disagreed. Then Mondal threatened me that if I do not hand over the car to him, he will implicate me in a narcotics case. Hence, I had no other option than to hand over the vehicle to him. Then Anubrata Mondal started using the vehicle, especially during long drives. That vehicle is one of the five vehicles parked in the rice mill complex," he added.
However, even after all this, Bhattacharya and Mondal said that they were not awarded the tender. "Instead, we were falsely implicated in a sand theft case and citing that reason, our tender application was cancelled," Bhattacharya said.
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