Cattle smuggling case: Decide bail plea of Sukanya Mondal in 3 months, SC to Delhi HC

The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Delhi High Court to decide within three months the bail plea filed by Sukanya Mondal, arrested in a money laundering case related to cattle smuggling in West Bengal. Sukanya is daughter of Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mondal, who too is under judicial custody in the same case.

A vacation bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and Sandeep Mehta noted the submission by senior advocate Vikas Pahwa, appearing for Mondal, that the bail proceedings are being repeatedly deferred before the high court

"The petitioner who has sought for being enlarged on bail before this court is contending inter alia that the application filed for being enlarged on bail before the High Court is being adjourned from time to time.


"We request the High Court of Delhi to dispose of the bail application filed by the petitioner expeditiously and preferably within three months from the date of re-opening," the bench said.

The top court made it clear that it has not expressed any opinion on merits of the case.

Sukanya, who was arrested by the ED on April 26 last year, has challenged a trial court's June 1, 2023 order dismissing her bail plea.

Anubrata Mondal, the Trinamool Congress' Birbhum district president, was arrested by the CBI in connection with the same case on August 11, 2022. The ED arrested him on November 17, 2022 in the alleged multi-crore rupees cattle smuggling scam after questioning him at an Asansol jail where he was lodged.

According to the ED, it registered the money laundering case following an FIR registered by the CBI in Kolkata against Satish Kumar, who was then a BSF Commandant.

The CBI FIR alleged that Anubrata Mondal, along with Kumar, other public servants and private persons, was involved in the cattle smuggling racket.