(MENAFN- Live Mint) A Political row has erupted in West Bengal over the lavish wedding hosted by Birbhum-based businessman Tulu Mandal. Tulu is reportedly a close aide of Trinamool Congress' Birbhum chief, Anubrata Mondal , who was arrested in a cattle smuggling case in 2022.
Recently, the businessman hosted an extravagant wedding of his daughter for which celebrities from the Hindi and Bengali film industries were invited. The lavish wedding has sparked a row over the source of funding.
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Leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Left parties launched a fierce attack on the businessman, alleging he was also a TMC leader.
According to an India Today report, BJP's Birbhum leader Dhruba Saha said: "I'm unaware of the budget, but I'm surprised to see Salman Khan's brother attending a wedding in Birbhum for the first time. It's astonishing that such high-profile guests are attending a local wedding. I suspect there may be unaccounted funds at play."
“We're all aware of Tulu Mondal's connections to the Trinamool Congress, and agencies have raided his house in the past. I've also heard that the groom's family has ties to cattle smuggling,” Dhruba alleged.
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CPI(M) Birbhum district secretary Goutam Ghosh also questioned Tulu's source of income, saying, "I'm not interested in his past actions, but the administration and police should be questioning how he could afford such an extravagant wedding", as per the India Today report.
"If he's not associated with the Trinamool, how can he spend so lavishly? We can't deny that Trinamool leaders have illegal income sources, enabling them to spend money like this. These leaders need to explain the source of his income, given the massive expenditure on this wedding," Goutam said.
The wedding ceremony was held on December 28 in Birbhum's Suri city. Its venue was a replica of the five-star Taj Lake Palace Hotel in Udaipur.
Celebrities, including Bollywood actor-director Arbaaz Khan, actor Zareen Khan, singer Monali Thakur, and veteran actor Asrani, as well as Bengali actors Ankush Hazra, Sumit Ganguly, and Darshana Banik, among others, attended the wedding also sang at the ceremony.
All hotels in Birbhum district were booked for the wedding guests.
Tulu Mandal's business involves stone trading, among others. Reportedly, he was also involved in the cattle smuggling case.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided Tulu's residence in August 2022, and later that year, he was summoned to Delhi for further questioning in the case.
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