The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Delhi High Court to decide within three months the bail plea of Sukanya Monda – daughter of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Anubrata Mondal – who was arrested in an alleged money laundering case related to cattle smuggling in West Bengal.
Anubrata Mondal – TMC’s Birbhum district president – too is in judicial custody in the same case.
A vacation bench of Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice Sandeep Mehta in its order said, “We request the High Court of Delhi to dispose of the bail application filed by the petitioner expeditiously and preferably within three months from the date of re-opening (of the High Court).”
The bench asked the high court to decide the bail plea within three months of its reopening taking note of Sukanya Mondal’s advocate telling the court that the bail proceedings before the High Court are being repeatedly deferred.
Sukanya Mondal was arrested by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on April 26, 2023. In High Court, she has challenged a trial court’s June 1, 2023 order rejecting her bail plea. The High Court had adjourned her bail plea till July 12.
The case involves allegations that cattle were being illegally smuggled to Bangladesh by bribing Border Security Force (BSF) personnel.
Anubrata Mondal was arrested by the CBI in connection with the case on August 11, 2022, and later ED arrested him on November 17, 2022, in the alleged multi-crore rupees cattle smuggling scam.