CID makes first arrest in cattle smuggling case

 Zenarul Sheikh, a native of Jalibagan is reportedly a close associate of Enamul Haque, the alleged kingpin of the racket

Zenarul Sheikh after his arrest.: Samim Aktar

Alamgir Hossain   |   TT  |  Behrampore   |   05.09.22 : The Criminal Investigation Department of Bengal police has made its first arrest in the ongoing probe into alleged cattle smuggling in the state.

Zenarul Sheikh, 46, was arrested from the Behrampore bus stand in Murshidabad on Saturday evening.

The native of Jalibagan in Raghunathganj is reportedly a close associate of Enamul Haque, the alleged kingpin of the smuggling racket whose name cropped up in the ongoing investigation by the CBI. Birbhum district Trinamul Congress president Anubrata Mondal was arrested by the CBI in the case.

CID sources said Zenarul had been arrested in connection with cattle smuggling cases of 2017 and 2019 filed at Raghunathganj police station. Both the cases were taken over by the CID last month under the orders of its additional director-general because of unsatisfactory progress in the police probe.

“We made several investigations in connection with these two cases, following which we picked up Zenarul yesterday (Saturday),” said a CID source.

Zenarul was produced in the Jangipur additional judicial magistrate’s court on Sunday and remanded in CID custody for 12 days.

Sources said Zenarul’s home at Jalibagan was less than 3km away from the Bangladesh border and he was close to BSF and Customs officers who had sanctioned a cow shelter in the backyard of his residence. “The local parlance for these sheds is a khoyar, where BSF herds in rescued cattle before handing them over to the Customs,” said a local resident.