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Synopsis

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought the Enforcement Directorate’s reply on the plea by Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Anubrata Mondal claiming that his ongoing custody in Tihar jail in a money laundering case related to multi-crore cattle smuggling in West Bengal is “illegal”.

The court was hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by Mondal for producing him before a court in person, alleging that he is in “illegal custody or unlawful detention”.

During the hearing, Senior Advocate Dayan Krishnan along with Advocate Mudit Jain appearing for Mondal contended that there was no valid judicial order remanding him in judicial custody. He contended that the ‘habeas corpus petition’ is maintainable by the high court when the remand is ‘illegal or allowed in a mechanical manner’.

It was stated that when Mondal was produced before the trial court on May 8, he was not specifically remanded in judicial custody but was taken to Tihar Jail.

Mondal’s plea stated that he is presently in judicial custody and lodged in Tihar Jail and his custodial remand got over on March 21, and presently, no proceedings are pending against him in Delhi, as the Directorate of Enforcement has not filed any prosecution complaint against him till date.

Taking note of the submissions, the division bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Talwant Singh issued notice on the habeas corpus petition and asked the counsels to first show that the plea is maintainable.

The matter will be taken up next on June 9.

Notably, on January 24, Special Judge Raghubir Singh of the Rouse Avenue Court, Delhi dismissed the TMC leader’s bail plea. The same is under consideration before Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma and is listed for hearing on June 1.

The TMC leader had approached the Delhi High Court in December challenging the production warrant issued by Rouse Avenue Court, Delhi in the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) case, in connection with the multi-crore cattle smuggling case in West Bengal.

Background:

Notably, on August 11, 2022, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Anubrata Mondal, a close aide to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, in connection with the cattle smuggling case. On August 5, the CBI served a summons on Mondal for questioning in connection with the cattle smuggling case. On August 8, Mondal was summoned to the CBI office at Nizam's Palace in Kolkata.

In April, the trial court took cognizance of a chargesheet filed by the ED against other accused namely former Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Vinay Mishra, his brother Vikas Mishra and Md. Enamul Haque, the alleged kingpin of cattle smuggling ruckus across the India-Bangladesh border.

Special Judge CBI Sanjay Garg, while taking cognizance noted that ED had filed chargesheet under Sections 44 and 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 for the offences under Sections 3 and 70 of PMLA, punishable under Section 4 of PMLA.

Case Title: Anubrata Mondal v. Directorate of Enforcement