Delhi court extends Anubrata Mondal's judicial custody till May 4

New Delhi, May 1 (IANS) A Delhi Court on Monday extended Trinamool Congress strongman Anubrata Mondal's judicial custody till May 4 in connection with the multi-crore cattle smuggling case in West Bengal being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Mondal was produced in Rouse Avenue Court at the expiry of his judicial custody.

On April 27, the same court granted three days' custody of Mondal's daughter Sukanya Mondal to ED to quiz her in the same case.

The ED had arrested Sukanya, a primary school teacher in West Bengal's Birbhum district, a day before after quizzing her.

Presented before the bench of Special Judge of Rouse Avenue Court Raghubeer Singh, Special Public Prosecutor Nitesh Rana sought Sukanya's custody saying she was required to be confronted with evidence and the co-accused, including her father.

Her custody was also required to trace the proceeds of crime, establish the money trail and the modus operandi, ED said.

Sukanya was summoned by the ED in November 2022 to its Delhi office.

She is the director of two companies, Neer Developer Pvt Ltd and ANM Agrochem Foods Pvt Ltd, CBI's probe revealed.

The companies have their offices at the same address where Bholebam Rice Mill, which is also owned by her, is located in Birbhum's Bolpur town.

On April 26, the High Court posted for June 1 Sukanya's father's plea challenging a trial court's order denying him bail in the same case.

Mondal had moved the High Court challenging an order dated January 24 denying him bail.

Earlier, Rana had said that Anubrata's bail application was without any merit.

The ED had arrested Mondal based on an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation in Kolkata against Satish Kumar, the then Commandant of Border Security Force.

While Mondal was named in the fourth charge sheet filed by the CBI on October 7, 2022 at the Asansol court, Mondal's former bodyguard Sehgal Hossain was arrested on June 10, 2022.

According to CBI's third charge sheet filed on August 8, 2022, he was one of the kingpins. Hossain is currently lodged in Delhi's Tihar jail.

The CBI suspects that profits from cattle smuggling were used to buy 24 of the 168 land and property deeds executed in or after 2014.

CBI officials claim to have detected Mondal's suspected link to these property deeds. The remaining 144 registration papers bear the names of his relatives, aides and their kin.