Birbhum police in West Bengal said on Monday, November 2, that they have arrested a retired government official for his alleged links to absconding stone quarry owner Tulu Mondal, also known as Mohammad Nazibuddin, in an ongoing investigation into illegal stone quarry operations and the alleged accumulation of illicit wealth.

Source: IANS via hi INDiA

The arrested man, Rabiul Islam, was the deputy district land and land reforms officer of Birbhum — his native district and the area where Mondal operated. He retired from service earlier this year. Police said Islam had evaded arrest until a raid on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday caught him.

According to police, a charge sheet filed on October 13 in the case named 12 accused. Eleven of them have now been arrested, while the main accused, Tulu Mondal, remains at large. Mondal is reported to be a close confidant of Anubrata Mondal, a former district president in Birbhum. The allegations against all the accused remain under investigation and are yet to be proved in court.

Islam was to be presented before a lower court in Suri, the district headquarters of Birbhum, later on Monday, where the public prosecutor was to seek his police custody.

Source: Daily Kiran

Rs 220 crore seized so far

Birbhum police have so far confiscated assets worth Rs 220 crore in the form of cash and gold owned by Tulu Mondal, his relatives and close associates, officials said. The figure underlines the scale investigators attribute to the alleged quarry network.

Second land official held in the case

Islam is not the first land official arrested in this case. On October 4, Birbhum district police arrested Sabyasachi Mondal, who was then the block land revenue officer of Mohammadbazar block in the same district. He was later produced in court and sent to jail.

What happens next: investigators are expected to question Islam in custody, if the court grants it, about his alleged role in the quarry operations, while the search for Tulu Mondal continues.