The CBI investigating cow smuggling, on Wednesday raided a number of places including the houses of Manish Kothari the chartered accountant of arrested Trinamool Congress strong man Anubrata Mondal, and recovered documents related to 162 properties, sources said.
The raids were all conducted in Birbhum district which houses the world's second biggest cattle market at Ilam Bazar. Mondal has been arrested on charges of cow smuggling.
Apart from Kothari, the CBI officers also raised the house of TMC councillor Biswajit Bandopadhyay, a close aide of Mondal. The officers also searched the a local bank as well as the block land revenue offices sources said, adding the net worth of the properties could run into several hundred crores.
Meanwhile a designated court on Wednesday extended arrested senior TMC leader and former Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee's judicial remand for another 14 days'.
Chatterjee was arrested last month after Enforcement Directorate recovered Rs 50 crore and jewellery worth many more crores from the appartments of Arpita Mukherjee a close aide of Chatterjee. The former is being investigated for his alleged involvement in school level recruitment scam.
Elsewhere several persons including police men and CPI(M), cadres when the two sides clashed during a Left civil disobedience rally at Burdwan.
CPI(M) cadres who took part in a massive rally demanding action against the corrupt politicians hurled brickbats at the police. Teargas shells were fired and water cannons were used to disperse the crowd. Several persons were arrested after the incident, sources said.