Cattle smuggling case: Actor-Trinamul Congress MP Dev faces 8-hour ED quiz in Delhi
Telegraph | 22 February 2024
Actor-Trinamul MP Deepak Adhikari aka Dev faced interrogators from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) at its Delhi office for over eight hours on Wednesday.
Senior ED officials said Dev was summoned in connection with the central agency's probe into the alleged money trail in cattle smuggling across Bengal.
The two-term MP from West Midnapore's Ghatal constituency turned up at the ED headquarters at 11am in response to the ED summons sent on February 15.
He stepped out at 7.20pm.
"I said earlier that every time I am summoned, I will respond and I'm following the same," Dev told reporters in Delhi before entering the ED office in the morning.
"I cancelled my shooting for the day for this (meeting). I've not committed any crime and I've complete faith in the investigating agency and the ongoing probe," Dev said.
The summons to Dev from the ED had come within days of the popular Tollywood actor deciding to stay with Trinamul after resigning from three committees in Ghatal. The resignations had sparked murmurs of Dev's intention to not contest from the Ghatal Lok Sabha seat this time.
However, Dev later said chief minister and Trinamul supremo Mamata Banerjee's opinion mattered a lot to him.
"Politics will not leave me even if I want to leave politics," Dev had said.
Asked if the ED summons was because of his political decision, Dev told reporters: "I would not like to talk about this right now."
A senior ED officer refused to delve into the details of the interrogation. "We wanted to clarify a few things that have emerged from our investigation so far in the alleged cattle smuggling case," the officer said.
Nandigram BJP MLA and leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari earlier alleged that Dev collected Rs 5 crore from Enamul Haque, the prime accused in the alleged cattle-smuggling case, for making a film.
The CBI, which is also probing the alleged case, had questioned Dev for over five hours in February 2022.
The Trinamul MP had then said he neither knew anyone named Enamul Haque, nor had he entered into any financial dealings with him.