Cow smugglers tried to run me down: West Bengal Food minister

Kolkata, Jul 20: West Bengal Food Minister Jyotipriyo Mullick today alleged that cow smugglers operating at Indo- Bangladesh border, against whom strict action is being taken by the state government, were targeting him and a car had tried to run him down in Salt Lake area of the city.

"I go for morning walks everyday. On Friday I was walking around BC park in Salt Lake. All of a sudden a green colour Tata Sumo came towards me at high speed and tried to mow me down. I jumped on to a footpath... It was close shave," Mullick told PTI.

"I personally feel that cow smugglers are trying to scare me as strict action is being taken against them," he said adding that such "cowardly acts" will not deter strict action against cow smugglers.

"(West Bengal Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee has given clear instructions that action will be taken against cow smugglers operating in the Indo- Bangla border. And her orders will be followed. So such threats can't deter us from taking action," Mullick said.

The minister also said that in the last few months, he had received few threat letters and had submitted those to Bidhanagar North police station. According to a close aide of Mullick, the car which had tried to mow him down had been following him for two days prior to the incident.

Following the attack on Mullick, his security has been beefed up and Bidhanagar police have launched an investigation into the case. "His security has been beefed up and we have launched an investigation into the case.

We are also going through the footage of the CCTV cameras," a senior police official of Bidhannagar police said. Banerjee had earlier this month said that strict action would be taken to curb cattle smuggling in border areas of the state.

PTI