Cattle smuggling: Anubrata Mondal's case to be heard in Delhi, not Asansol

Kolkata, Sep 6 (IANS) The matters related to Trinamool Congress strongman and the party’s Birbhum district chief Anubrata Mondal in connection with the multi-crore cattle smuggling case in West Bengal will now be heard at the Rouse Avenue court in New Delhi, a special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) at Asansol in West Burdwan district of West Bengal ruled on Wednesday.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is conducting a parallel investigation into the cattle smuggling case, had been insisting that the matter be shifted to the court at New Delhi. A number of times there had been arguments in the special court at Asansol on why the central agency was insisting on shifting the hearing to the Rouse Avenue court.

The ED originally appealed to the special court in Asansol on July 28 for shifting the hearing. However, in the earlier two instances the special court judge was reluctant to shift the hearing and questioned the arguments of the ED’s counsel.

However, on Wednesday afternoon the special court judge Rajesh Chakraborty accepted the ED’s arguments based on a notification of the Union finance ministry issued in 2005 and allowed the hearing to be shifted to the Rouse Avenue court.

Mondal is in judicial custody at Tihar jail in Delhi. Also housed there are his daughter Sukanya Mondal, his personal chartered accountant Manish Kothari and his  bodyguard Sehgal Hossain, all of whom are accused as co-conspirators and beneficiaries in the multi- crore cattle smuggling case.