TMC leader's ex-bodyguard held in document forgery case linked to stone trader Tulu Mondal
A former bodyguard of Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mondal was arrested in West Bengal's Birbhum district in a case of document forgery to allegedly evade tax linked to absconding stone trader Tulu Mondal, police said on Sunday, August 16.
Saigal Hossain was arrested earlier in the day after a special investigation team of the Birbhum district police searched his flat in Bolpur on Saturday for nearly 16 hours, seizing Rs 12.84 lakh in cash, around 800 grams of gold and more than 150 land deeds, they said.
Also, a laptop and foreign currencies were seized.
The action was part of an expanded investigation launched after the recovery of huge quantities of cash and gold, estimated to be worth around Rs 50 crore, from the residence of Minar Mondal, a brother-in-law of Tulu Mondal.
Investigators suspect that Tulu Mondal amassed substantial assets by evading government taxes linked to his stone business, and they are trying to trace properties and valuables allegedly concealed through relatives and close associates.
Following the arrest, Saigal was produced before a court in Siuri on Sunday, which remanded him to police for seven days.
Police said the search was conducted as part of their probe into alleged manipulation and forgery of demand-cum-collection receipts (DCRs) in stone quarries linked to Tulu Mondal.
Demand-cum-collection receipts, also referred to as duplicate carbon receipts, are tokens, digital or physical, given to truck owners after they pay the state government tax for moving stones from quarries.
Investigators found Saigal's links in the case while examining diaries and other documents seized from associates of Tulu Mondal, police sources said.
Saigal, however, claimed before the court that there was a conspiracy to frame him in the case.
About recovery of Pakistani currencies and banknotes from Arab countries, he told reporters that the amount was not significant and those might have come into his possession during a currency exchange and were not significant.
Md Nazibuddin Mondal alias Tulu Mondal moved the Calcutta High Court on Friday, seeking quashing of an FIR against him. He has been accused of causing massive loss in government revenue using forged documents for stone quarry operations.
