Cattle smuggling case: TMC leader Anubrata Mondal sent to Tihar jail for 13 days

The Rouse Avenue court recently questioned ED why Mondal was not being produced before it, although a production warrant for this was issued in December 2022

Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Anubrata Mondal, who was earlier arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for his alleged role in the cattle smuggling case, was sent to Tihar jail for 13 days.

Mondal has been citing his poor health to avoid going to the national Capital. (File image)

“He was produced at the Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi on Tuesday as the ED custody for 14 days ended. The court sent him to judicial custody for 13 days. He will be lodged in Tihar jail,” said an advocate.

The Rouse Avenue court recently questioned ED why Mondal was not being produced before it, although a production warrant for this was issued in December 2022.

Mondal has been citing his poor health to avoid going to the national Capital.

Later, the Calcutta high court set aside a petition filed by Mondal in which he had challenged the production warrant issued by the special CBI court, virtually paving the way for the federal agency to take the him to Delhi.

He was flown to Delhi by ED earlier this month. Since then, he has been in ED custody.

“As Mondal understands only Bengali, the court has directed the jail superintendent to make arrangements according to the jail manual so that he may communicate without any difficulty. The court didn’t allow him to carry any bags inside the jail except for the medical prescription,” said an advocate.

Other accused persons in the case including Mondal’s former bodyguard Sehgal Hossain and his chartered accountant Manish Kothari, are lodged in the same jail.

The CBI had arrested Mondal on August 11, 2022. He was named in the CBI’s fourth charge sheet filed at the Asansol court on October 7.

Mondal’s former bodyguard, Hossain, was arrested by CBI on June 10 last year and named as a prime accused in the agency’s third charge sheet filed on August 8.

CBI officials claim to have detected Mondal’s suspected link to 168 land and property deeds executed in or after 2014.

At least two dozen of these properties belong to him, suspects the federal agency, while the remaining 144 registration papers bear the names of his relatives, aides and their kin.

One of them is Mondal’s daughter Sukanya who was also interrogated thrice at the ED’s Delhi office.

The CBI suspects that profits from cattle smuggling were used to buy the properties. The ED is probing the allegations of money laundering.