The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought the stand of the Enforcement Directorate on a plea by TMC leader Anubrata Mondal claiming that his ongoing custody in a money laundering case related to cattle smuggling is illegal.
Mondal’s legal representative argued that there was no valid judicial order for his remand in judicial custody.
The bench comprising Justices Siddharth Mridul and Talwant Singh, issued a notice on Mondal’s habeas corpus petition, and they have asked his lawyers to demonstrate the maintainability of the plea.
The bench has granted the investigating agency 5 working days to file a response to the petition, and the case is scheduled on June 9 for further consideration.
The counsel for the Enforcement Directorate, Anupam S. Sharma, stated that the accused’s judicial custody was lawful and in accordance with a custody warrant signed by the trial court judge.
Consequently, Mondal’s habeas corpus petition is not maintainable. Senior advocate Dayan Krishnan, represented Mondal, argued that the high court could entertain the habeas corpus petition if the remand is illegal or granted in a mechanical manner.
In his plea filed through lawyer Mudit Jain, Mondal, the TMC’s Birbhum district chief and a close associate of CM Mamata Banerjee, stated that when he was presented before the trial court on May 8, he wasn’t specifically remanded in judicial custody but was taken to Tihar Jail. The plea also mentioned that the next hearing was scheduled for July 12.
The plea stated that, “The mandate of the law is that an accused can be sent to Judicial Custody only once a specific order to the said effect is passed by the Court, in the absence of which, the custody of such an Accused is illegal and without the sanction of law.”
The petition seeks Mondal’s release from “illegal custody” in Tihar Jail. Mondal was initially arrested by the CBI on August 11 last year in connection with the case. Later, he was later arrested by the ED on November 17 last year and was remanded in the custody of the anti-money laundering probe agency for 14 days starting from March 8.
According to the ED, the money laundering case was registered based on an FIR by the CBI in Kolkata against Satish Kumar, the former Commandant of the BSF. The CBI’s FIR alleged that Mondal, along with Kumar, other public servants, and private individuals, was involved in a multi-crore cattle smuggling racket.
