Kolkata, May 5 (IANS): Veteran Congress leader and West Bengal unit President Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Friday held the Union and the state government as equally responsible for the rise in cattle-smuggling in the state.

His remark comes just a day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had submitted its supplementary charge sheet on the alleged multi-crore cattle-smuggling scam in West Bengal reportedly holding a section of the Border Security Force (BSF) personnel as partners in the alleged scam.

"Cattle mainly arrive in West Bengal from states like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana and the transportation on this count is mainly done through the National Highways. After entering the state, these cattle are transported to India-Bangladesh border through roads that come under the jurisdiction of the state police. After reaching the border, the cattle-smugglers involve a section of the BSF personnel for smuggling those cattle across the borders. So, from the sequence, it is clear that both the Union and state governments are equally responsible for this menace," Chowdhury told media persons here.

He also accused Defence Minister Rajnath Singh for being silent about this issue when he was the Union Home Minister in the previous Narendra Modi government. "He had never said anything against the state government on this matter and that is why cattle- smuggling in West Bengal reached its peak during his tenure as the Union Home Minister," Chowdhury said.

t is learnt that that in the charge sheet, the ED sleuths had tried to give a detailed picture on how the cattle smuggled from the local cattle market in Birbhum district were transported to the India-Bangladesh border villages in Murshidabad district taking the different law-enforcement agencies personnel into confidence. The charge sheet, sources said, also has reference of the different law-enforcement agencies personnel who played a role in the entire process on this count.