New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Anubrata Mondal in a multi-crore cattle smuggling case.
Anubrata, who was Birbhum district president and a close aide of chief minister Mamata Banerjee, was arrested first by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on July 11, 2022, and then by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in November that year.
A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and SC Sharma noted that the TMC leader had been in jail for two years already.
They passed the bail order saying that the trial in the matter would take time.
The top court directed Anubrata to cooperate in the investigation and surrender his passport.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared on behalf of Anubrata, submitted that four chargesheets have been filed in the case and everybody, except the Trinamool leader, is out of jail.
Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, who appeared for CBI, opposed the bail plea, saying that Anubrata is a very influential person and involved in tampering with evidence.
CBI has claimed that Anubrata was the main facilitator for transportation of cattle through West Bengal’s Birbhum to Bangladesh.
However, Anubrata’s counsel said no such evidence was found.
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