Bengal CID arrests stockbroker who ‘gave’ money to three Jharkhand Congress MLAs

The Bengal CID arrested stockbroker Mahendra Agarwal in connection with alleged horse trading of the three Jharkhand Congress MLAs to topple the JMM-Congress-RJD government.

Earlier, the CID team had raided his office and residence after his name surfaced in the controversy for having arranged cash and other logistics to three Congress MLAs namely Irfan Ansari (Jamtara), Rajesh Kachhap (Khijri) and Naman Bixal Kongari who is Kolebira MLA.

These MLAs were arrested on Saturday at Howrah along with Rs 49 lakh cash. The Congress alleged the BJP for hatching a conspiracy to destabilize the Hemant Soren government. The Congress further alleged Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma was controlling the entire operation.

The Bengal CID claimed that Mahendra Agarwal arranged the cash which was seized by the police.  During the raid against Mahendra Agarwal, the police recovered Rs 3.5 Lakh besides some silver coins from his office which is located at Bikaner Building, an old office complex close to Kolkata police headquarters at Lalbazar.

The CID claimed that on July 30 the Congress MLAs spent around 50 minutes at a hotel at Sudder Street locality in Kolkata. The CID suspects Jharkhand MLAs having received the cash during this period.