The CBI on Tuesday arrested Satish Kumar, a serving commandant of the BSF in Chhatisgarh, for his alleged involvement in the cattle-smuggling trade in Murshidabad during his posting at the bordering districts in Bengal.

“He was questioned for several hours and then arrested,” saif a source.

According to him, Satish’s involvement in illegal cattle trade date to his tenure as the commandant of 36th battalion of the BSF overseeing operations in Malda and Murshidabad between between December 2015 and April 2017.

“During his tenure, Satish had seized around 20,000 cows during raids to prevent cattle smuggling along the border. But these cows were reportedly shown as calves in the record books. This meant when they were put up for auction, the animals fetched lesser amounts compared to cows,” said a source.

The CBI has primarily learnt that Mursihabad-based businessman Enamul Haque and his gang would allegedly buy these cows at a lower price only to smuggle them back to Bangladesh. His team would reportedly pay Rs 2,000 for each of the cows that was auctioned at a lower price.

CBI officers have learnt if a full grown cow fetched around Rs 60,000 a calf would attract half the amount. By showing cows as calves, the investigating agency said the government had lost several hundreds of crores in revenue.

While cows were seized, the CBI has learnt neither the operatives nor vans carrying them were held, raising questions about the nature of raids that were carried out for those 16 months.

Enamul was arrested on November 6 at Delhi.

The CBI alleged Satish’s son had worked with Emanul’s company for sometime drawing Rs 40,000 every month. “We will seek his custody when he is produced before the court,” a CBI officer said.

Tuesday’s arrest follows a series of summons to the officer over the last month-and-a-half asking him to appear before the central investigating agency for questioning in connection with its probe into the alleged cattle-smuggling trade in the bordering district of Bengal.

The CBI had conducted search and raid operations at his office earlier in September besides his Salt Lake residence which was later sealed. A separate team of officers had also visited his house in Gaziabad.