ED lens on TMC ex-minister Jakir Hossain in cattle case

KOLKATA: After Trinamool Congress Birbhum president Anubrata Mandal, former party minister Jakir Hossain has now come under the scanner of the ED in the cattle smuggling case. Agency sources hinted that investigators came across Hossain’s name while questioning people allegedly linked to the case in Murshidabad.
The income tax department had recently conducted searches at the residence and office of beedi baron and Jangipur MLA Hossain and seized cash from his factory. The ED has already summoned 11 others, including Mandal’s daughter Sukanya, his associate and TMCP leader Kripamoy Ghosh and Bolpur businessmen Moloy Pit and Rajib Bhattacharya to Delhi for questioning in the cattle smuggling case.
Ghosh and Sukanya’s chauffeur had met Mandal at a Saktigarh eatery on March 9 while he was being escorted from Asansol Correctional Home to Joka ESI Hospital by the Asansol-Durgapur Police before ED took him to Delhi. Sources in Bolpur said Ghosh was one of Mandal’s close associates and a regular at his Nichupatti residence. Ghosh is presently attached with the Ballavpur fishery project.