Cattle-smuggling: Supreme Court tells Delhi High Court to speed up hearing in bail plea by TMC leader's daughter

The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Delhi High Court to decide on the bail plea filed by Sukanya Mondal in connection with her arrest in a cattle-smuggling case within three weeks after the Court reopens following its summer break. [Sukanya Mondal vs Directorate of Enforcement].Sukanya Mondal is the daughter of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Anubrata Mondal who is also among the accused in the same case.A Vacation Bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and Sandeep Mehta orally noted that Sukanya Mondal's bail plea before the High Court has been pending for over ten months now.It, therefore, passed an order for the speedy disposal of the case after the High Court's summer vacation ends."We request the High Court of Delhi to dispose of the bail application filed by the petitioner expeditiously and preferably within three weeks from the date of re-opening. Subject to above observation, the special leave petition is dismissed. We make it clear that we have not expressed any opinion on merits and all contentions of the parties are kept open", the Supreme Court directed..The top court was hearing Sukanya Mondal's appeal against a May 24 Delhi High Court order, in which a single-judge merely adjourned the matter till July 12 after releasing it from a part-heard batch of cases.Sukanya Mondal's appeal, filed through advocate Mrinal Kumar Sharma, stated that she has remained in jail for over a year now."The said bail application has been pending before the Hon’ble High Court for more than 10 months and was listed for 22 dates ... the Petitioner is a women who falls within the exception provided in the first proviso to section 45(1) of the PMLA for the grant of bail," the plea added. .Senior Advocate Vikas Pahwa with advocates Syed Arham Masud, Wasif Naushad, Sahil Saraswat, and Garvil Singh appeared for Sukanya Mondal..Cattle smuggling case: Supreme Court seeks CBI response to bail plea by TMC leader Anubrata Mondal.Anubrata Mondal's bail plea too is currently pending before the Supreme Court.Anubrata Mondal was arrested in the case in August 2022. The cattle smuggling case involves allegations that cattle were illegally smuggled to Bangladesh by bribing Border Security Force (BSF) personnel.It was alleged that in order to enable the movement of the cattle through the districts of Birbhum and Murshidabad, a prime accused (one Md Enamul Haque) had obtained illegal favours from Anubrata Mondal, who was accused of using his influence to facilitate the crime and of receiving wrongful gains for his patronage.Anubrata Mondal's daughter, Sukanya was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with this case in April 2023 on allegations that she was unable to explain a huge increase in her assets..[Read order]