Diary reveals TMC govt’s patronage, says ED

ED SAYS EX-TMC LEADER VINAY MISHRA AND HIS BROTHER RECEIVED ₹6.1 CR FROM THE KINGPIN

NEW DELHI: A diary recovered during an ongoing investigation into the cattle smuggling racket across the India-bangladesh border establishes that former Trinamool Congress (TMC) youth wing leader Vinay Mishra and his brother, Vikas, received proceeds of the crime from kingpin Mohammad Enamul Haque to provide “patronage” in the Mamata Banerjee-led government, the Enforcement Directorate has said.

In its charge sheet filed against the Mishras last month, the central agency claimed that the entries in the diary which belonged to Manoj Sana, who worked as cash handler for Haque, revealed that Vinay and Vikas received ₹6.1 crore from Haque and his JHM Group of Companies between December 2016 and March 2017.

“The bribe was given as a patronage for providing ease in cattle smuggling activity as Vinay Mishra was closely associated with the current regime of West Bengal at that time,” the charge sheet, a copy of which HT has seen, said. It did not name any office bearer in the then Bengal regime.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and ED are conducting parallel probes into the alleged involvement of several Border Security Force (BSF), customs and police officers, smugglers and politicians in cattle smuggling along the West Bengal-bangladesh border. The probe was started by CBI in 2018.

The diary was recovered from Sana by the CBI in 2020, days after the probe agency registered a first information report (FIR) in the matter. According to the CBI’S FIR, the payments were made to the Mishras in four instalments, three of which were made to Vikas, who is currently in prison. The first instalment of ₹10 lakh was handed over by Sana to Vikas on December 20, 2016, the ED charge sheet said. Vinay, who fled India on September 16, 2020 and obtained citizenship of Vanuatu, received the second instalment of ₹50 lakh himself on December 29, 2016. The remaining two instalments of ₹2.50 crore and ₹3 crore were delivered by Sana to Vikas on January 19 and March 20 in 2017, respectively, it added.

While ED has claimed that Vinay fled the country after initiation of investigation against him, the latter’s legal team last year informed Calcutta high court that he left the country on September 16, 2020 while an FIR into the cattle smuggling was registered on September 21, 2020. Vinay’s legal team also said that he did not receive any summons from any agency before he left the country.

According to the CBI, Haque allegedly paid ₹2,000 per cattle to BSF officials and ₹500 to customs officials. The money he generated from cattle smuggling was routed as remittances of fake exports of fabrics to Dubai via Bangladesh. Haque was arrested by the CBI in November 2020 but was released on bail after he moved the Supreme Court in January this year. He was however arrested again within a month, this time by ED. TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh refused to comment on the ED charges.