A former air hostess and model Sangeeta Chatterjee was sent to jail on Wednesday for her alleged involvement in red sanders smuggling. A court in Andhra Pradesh said to have ruled against Sangeeta and ordered cops to put her behind the bards. Sangeeta is just 26-yr-old. Sangeeta was allegedly involved in spreading red sanders smuggling network. She’s allegedly helping red sanders smuggler M Lakshman in carrying out the smuggling in six states in India and also in other countries, including China and Japan.
According to the police Sangeeta studied till Class 10 and became a model in TV commercials. She later did some course and became an air hostess. She came in contact with one M Lakshman in Kolkata, where he frequently stayed and had established his base there too. Sangeeta is allegedly the second wife of Lakshman, who was arrested in July 2014 from Nepal.
Lakshman, who is originally from Manipur, was settled in Chennai where he had a wife. Till his arrest in July 2014, he was considered the biggest smuggler involved in smuggling of red sandalwood trees in the forests of Chittoor, Kurnool and Kadapa districts of Andhra Pradesh. After his arrest, Sangeeta said to had taken over the control of his network’s illegal activities, including hawala transactions of crores of rupees.
Andhra Pradesh Police had in 2016 raided Sangeeta’s residence in Kolkata and seized several documents for properties. However, a local court granted her bail then, dealing a blow to Andhra Pradesh Police’s efforts to bring her to justice. Later, Sangeeta failed to appear before the court despite repeated summons being issued on six occasions. In December, the court issued a non-bailable warrant against her.
Sangeeta was arrested by the Andhra Pradesh Police from her residence in Kolkata on Tuesday night, and she was brought to Chittoor district and presented before a court at Pakala. The magistrate sent her to judicial custody for 14 days and she was later shifted to Chittoor sub-jail. The police are planning to move a petition to seek her custody for interrogation in various cases booked in Chittoor district. With Sangeeta finally in AP police custody, the state police hope to gather information about smuggling network and its activities ranging from felling red sanders trees to their smuggling to illegal arms dealings.
