India's CBI summons actor Dev in cattle smuggling case

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday sent summons to Bengali actor and Trinamool Congress (TMC) Lok Sabha member Deepak Adhikari, who is popularly known as Dev, to appear for questioning in a cattle smuggling case next week, agency officials aware of the development said.

Adhikari has been summoned to the CBI office at Nizam Palace in south Kolkata on February 15.

Adhikari has won twice from Ghatal constituency, which is spread across East and West Midnapore districts. He played a leading role in campaigning for TMC candidates in the assembly polls last year.

TMC spokesperson Biswajit Deb, a former advocate general of Nagaland, said Adhikari is a victim of political conspiracy.

"The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been using CBI and other central probe agencies against TMC leaders to exert pressure. It did not work in the assembly polls. Now they are using CBI in view of civic body elections. Dev has become a target. Such tactics will not work. The TMC will sweep the polls because of its popularity," Deb said.

Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar denied the allegation, saying CBI is an independent agency.

"CBI and other agencies are conducting several probes. Most of these were ordered by courts. The agencies work independently. If Dev has any information about cattle smuggling, then he should cooperate with the CBI," Majumdar said.

.CBI is probing the alleged involvement of several Border Security Force (BSF), Customs and police officers, smugglers and politicians in the probe into cattle smuggling along the West Bengal-Bangladesh border.

Three Bengal-based cattle traders, Muhammad Enamul Haque, Anarul Sheikh and Muhammad Gulam Mustafa, are the prime suspects. Haque was arrested from Delhi in November, 2020. Satish Kumar, who used to be a commandant in the South Bengal Frontier of the BSF in 2016 and 2017, was also arrested in November 2020, nearly two months after CBI conducted raids at 15 locations in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh and sealed properties belonging to the officer.

According to CBI, BSF and customs officials undervalued the cattle seized by border-guarding force so that a small group of traders who participated in the auction could buy them at very low price. The cattle, once seized by BSF, was then sold in Bangladesh.

CBI filed a chargesheet in the case in February last year and apart from officials, also named a Trinamool Youth Congress leader Vinay Mishra.