The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Anubrata Mondal – accused in an alleged cattle smuggling case. He was arrested in August 2022 by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Later he was also booked by the Directorate of Enforcement.
Granting bail to Anubrata Mondal, a bench of Justice Bela M. Trivedi and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma saddled the TMC leader with conditions that he will not influence the witnesses, surrender his passport and cooperate with the ongoing trial.
Appearing for Anubrata Mondal, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi told the bench that his client has been in jail for two years and other co-accused in the case have been released on bail. Anubrata Mondal has approached the top court challenging the Calcutta High Court rejecting his bail plea.
Anubrata Mondal was arrested in the cattle smuggling case by the CBI in August 2022. The Central Bureau of Investigation had earlier arrested a former Border Security Force (BSF) commandant in connection with illegal cattle smuggling across the border to Bangladesh. Anubrata Mondal’s name figured during the investigation of the case.
As per the CBI investigation, over 20,000 cattle heads had been seized by the Border Security Force (BSF) between 2015 and 2017 as they were being smuggled across the border.
Anubrata Mondal, his daughter Sukanya, former security guards Sehgal, and Enamul Haque and BSF commandant Satish Kumar, were arrested by the CBI and the ED in connection with the case.