Bengal court allows ED to shift TMC’s Anubrata Mondal to Delhi’s Tihar jail | Kolkata - Hindustan Times
close_game
close_game

Bengal court allows ED to shift TMC’s Anubrata Mondal to Delhi’s Tihar jail

Mar 02, 2023 08:22 PM IST

The TMC Birbhum district president and a close aide of chief minister Mamata Banerjee was arrested by the ED in connection with the multi-crore cattle smuggling scam on November 17 last year

A West Bengal district court on Thursday ordered the transfer of Trinamool Congress (TMC) strongman Anubrata Mondal from the local correctional home in Asansol to Delhi’s Tihar jail noting that in the National Capital, he can be produced before a special court, Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials said.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Anubrata Mondal (File Photo)
Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Anubrata Mondal (File Photo)

The order came after Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court on Wednesday asked the ED why Mondal, a prime suspect in the cattle smuggling case, was not being produced before it, although a production warrant for this was issued in December 2022.

Hindustan Times - your fastest source for breaking news! Read now.

Also Read: CBI finds 50 lakh cash, 1.5kg gold from ex-advisor’s flat in recruitment case

The court asked the ED to file an affidavit by March 29 stating why the production warrant was not executed, an ED official said on condition of anonymity.

“The Rouse Avenue court’s order was produced before the Asansol court on Thursday with an appeal to shift Mondal to Delhi,” the official added.

The TMC Birbhum district president and a close aide of chief minister Mamata Banerjee was arrested by the ED in connection with the multi-crore cattle smuggling scam on November 17 last year.

In December, senior lawyer Kapil Sibal moved the Delhi high court for Mondal, challenging the ED’s bid to take Mondal to Delhi, but the matter was again referred to the Rouse Avenue court. Mondal has challenged the Delhi high court order.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) 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, Sehgal 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. Hossain is lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail as a suspect in the ED’s parallel probe.

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.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Share this article
SHARE
Story Saved
Live Score
OPEN APP
Saved Articles
Following
My Reads
Sign out
New Delhi 0C
Friday, March 29, 2024
Start 14 Days Free Trial Subscribe Now
Follow Us On