Former Secretary of the Trinamool Youth Congress and a close confidante of Mamata’s nephew – Abhishek Banerjee, Vinay Mishra, accused in a cattle and coal smuggling case and sought after by CBI, might just be running on borrowed times. The former TMC leader had fled to Vanuatu last year to evade the authorities. However, according to a report by The Sunday Guardian Live (TSG), the government officials in Vanuatu have remarked that they might extradite Mishra if the Indian agencies approach them with the court order.
The Calcutta High Court last week refused Mishra’s petition of quashing the CBI proceedings against him. The premier investigative agency of the country has been given a free hand by the Court to deal with the Vanuatu government.
“The nature of allegations complained in the present case, the officers/accused who are involved and the loss which has been sustained do not involve any interference with the powers vested in the State by the Constitution.”said the court.
And if the report by TSG is anything to go by, Mishra could be brought back to India soon. However, Mishra might have changed names and might be living under a new identity and thus the CBI would have its task cut out.
According to the FIR filed by the CBI where Mishra has been charged with offences under the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (PC Act, 1988), in the intervening period between December 2015 and April 2017, private individuals, including Vinay Mishra collaborated with senior BSF officials and customs officials along the India-Bangladesh border to illegally send at least 20,000 Indian cows to be sent to Bangladesh for slaughter.
The CBI alleges that out of the hefty amount that Mishra earned from the most ambitious case of cow smuggling in the history of India, a substantial part of which has been deposited with Abhishek Banerjee.
Read More: Cow smuggler and Ex-TMC youth leader has fled to Vanuatu to escape Indian law
In what can be termed as internal sabotage, just four days before the CBI registered the FIR in the cow smuggling case, Mishra escaped India on 16 September 2020. In order to claim his innocence, Mishra has hired the services of Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Siddharth Luthra among others to defend himself. It is being reported that Singhvi and Luthra charge Rs 10-15 lakh per hearing.
Mishra accepted Vanuatu’s citizenship on 25 November 2020 while he renounced Indian citizenship at the Indian Consulate office, Dubai, on 19 December 2020. Mishra’s family including his wife, two daughters and mother and father have also taken up the citizenship of Grenada. Last month, the CBI had summoned Mishra’s parents to remain present at its Nizam Palace office in Kolkata for questioning.
Credit should be given to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Trinamool Congress on how they gamed the entire system to save its kin. However, with the CBI steadily working through the roadblocks, Mishra’s extradition looks likely.
