TMC leader Anubrata Mondal being produced before the Dubrajpur court, in Birbhum. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
The Calcutta High Court on January 4 rejected senior Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mondal‘s bail plea in an alleged cattle smuggling case
Mondal’s counsel Kapil Sibal had claimed that he has been in custody for more than four months, while the main accused in the case, BSF officer Satish Kumar, was granted bail after only 33 days.
However, CBI counsel D.P. Singh opposed the bail prayer claiming that Mondal stands on a different footing than Kumar in his ability to derail the investigation, asserting that he may try to influence the witnesses.
Hearing all the parties in the matter, the division bench presided over by Justice Joymalya Bagchi had reserved judgement on the bail prayer. Submitting before the bench, also comprising Justice A.K. Gupta, that all documents about the case have not been supplied to his client, Mr. Sibal claimed that no evidence of facilitation of cattle smuggling by Mondal has been found.
Praying for his bail, he had claimed that his client, the Birbhum district of the Trinamool Congress, has been in custody for 145 days.
(With PTI inputs)