Cattle smuggling racket 'kingpin' Enamul Haque surrenders before CBI court

KOLKATA: The alleged kingpin of a cattle smuggling racket operating at the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal, Enamul Haque, on Friday surrendered before a special CBI court which remanded him to judicial custody for 14 days.

Haq surrendered before the court at Asansol in Paschim Bardhaman district following an order of the Calcutta High Court.

The high court on November 24 directed Haque, accused in a cattle smuggling case in which a senior BSF officer was arrested, to appear before the special CBI court at Asansol within seven days of testing negative for COVID-19.

His lawyers had submitted before the high court that Haque tested positive for COVID-19 at a private hospital here.

The alleged kingpin of the cattle smuggling ring had moved the Calcutta High Court seeking quashing of the FIR against him, claiming that it was mala fide and motivated.

The CBI arrested Haque in New Delhi on November 6 in connection with the case.

However, he got interim bail from a court there, which asked him to appear before the agency in Kolkata on November 9.

He told CBI sleuths on that day that he was a suspected COVID-19 case and the agency asked him to come back on November 24.

The CBI on November 17 arrested a BSF commandant for his alleged involvement in the cattle smuggling racket.

It is alleged that cattle smugglers used to bribe BSF and customs officials to keep their illegal business running.

Haque was earlier arrested in 2018 by CBI for allegedly bribing another BSF commandant and is out on bail in that case.