The Supreme Court granted bail to Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Anubrata Mondal on Tuesday in an alleged cattle smuggling case, imposing several conditions, including a prohibition on influencing witnesses. Justices Bela M. Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma were on the bench that ruled on the bail application.
In addition to the condition against influencing witnesses, the court directed Mondal to surrender his passport and fully cooperate with the trial.
Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Mondal, noted that his client had been in jail for two years and pointed out that other co-accused in the case had already been released on bail.
Mondal has challenged the Calcutta High Court’s rejection of his bail plea through a petition filed with the Supreme Court by advocate on record Lzafeer Ahmad BF.
Mondal was arrested by the CBI in August 2022. The agency had previously arrested a former Border Security Force (BSF) commandant in connection with the illegal smuggling of cattle across the India-Bangladesh border. Mondal’s name surfaced during the investigation, according to sources.
The CBI investigation revealed that over 20,000 cattle had been seized by the BSF between 2015 and 2017 during attempts to smuggle them across the border.
Alongside Mondal, others implicated in the case include his daughter Sukanya, former bodyguards Sehgal and Enamul Haque, and BSF commandant Satish Kumar. All have been arrested by the CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the case.
Anubrata Mondal is known to be a close aide of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
