North Bengal in meat net: Police

The Narkeldanga cold store that has been sealed

TT, Budge Budge: Biswanath Ghorui, the suspected rotten meat supply kingpin, had a network of men to deliver meat to various parts of north Bengal, police said.

Ghorui was arrested in Sonarpur on Thursday when he came from Durgapur, where he had been hiding, to meet his team members, the police said.

His interrogation has revealed how Ghorui, a fishmonger by profession, built a business of supplying rotten meat across various districts for years, the police claimed.

An officer said cops had found names of a few transporters who used to ferry the processed and packaged rotten meat to eateries in parts of north Bengal from the cold store in Narkeldanga.

Cops are still to zero in on the men who helped Ghorui spread his business in north Bengal. "Once we gather a few more details on the supply chain, we would take Ghorui to north Bengal to understand the working of the business, an officer of the Special Investigation Team said.

Ghorui had invested heavily in the business to develop the network across parts of north Bengal. At times he would visit some of the eateries to take stock of the business, the officer said.

On Monday morning, acting on a specific tip-off, officers of Beniapukur police station raided a meat shop on Sir Syed Ahmed Road and detained two people in connection with the sale of dead chickens.

"Preliminary investigations suggest some of the chickens from the districts that are meant for city markets might have died in transit and some shops bought them at a cheaper price," an officer of Beniapukur police station said.

The two detained have been identified as Mohammad Jumman and Mohammad Munna. "But it is for the Calcutta Municipal Corporation to decide if they are guilty," the officer said.