CBI calls 6 cops, kin of Vinay for questioning - Trinamul said the summons were politically motivated

The CBI had earlier carried out raids and searches at three homes of Mishra in Alipore and Rashbehari in Calcutta and Lake Town and seized several documents, pen drives and laptops.: Shutterstock

Kinsuk Basu   |   TT   |   Calcutta   |    06.01.21  :  The CBI on Tuesday summoned for questioning six Bengal police officers and a few family members of the Trinamul Congress’s youth wing leader, Vinay Mishra, in connection with its probe into alleged smuggling of coal and cattle.

They were all asked to appear before CBI officers in Calcutta this week, said an investigator who refused to speak further on the summoning.

Trinamul said the summons were politically motivated.

“Several police officers who were earlier posted across Murshidabad and Hooghly districts have been summoned since it appears smuggled coal and cattle used to travel down parts of national highways of these two districts with their support,” said a source.

Among the summoned are police superintendent of Hooghly, a former deputy commissioner of police of the Chandernagore police commissionerate, a former deputy inspector general of police of the Murshidabad range and a former additional police superintendent of Murshidabad.

Besides, a deputy commissioner of police with the Asansol-Durgapur police commissionerate has been summoned.

A circle inspector of Bankura police and an inspector-in-charge of a police station in Purulia were also summoned.

Trinamul dubbed the summons as an extension of the “politically drafted probe” that was aimed at maligning the ruling party in Bengal ahead of the Assembly elections.

“We expect more summons to follow in the following weeks from the CBI. A plot has been drawn up and the central agency is merely trying to fill in the blanks at the behest of the government at the Centre,” said a senior Trinamul leader in south Calcutta.

The CBI had earlier carried out raids and searches at three homes of Mishra in Alipore and Rashbehari in Calcutta and Lake Town and seized several documents, pen drives and laptops.

Mishra, however, was not to be found. The CBI believes he is in the Gulf.