Supreme Court grants bail to Mohd Enamul Haque, prime accused in multi-crore cattle smuggling case

The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to Mohd Enamul Haque, the prime accused in a multi-crore cattle smuggling case in which he was charged under several sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act (Md Enamul Haque v. CBI)..A Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Dinesh Maheshwari allowed an appeal against a November 2021 order of the Calcutta High Court which had dismissed Haque's bail plea."We are of the opinion that continued detention of appellant in custody is not warranted...Thus, we direct appellant be released on bail subject to terms and conditions set by the Special CBI judge, Asansol, Pashchim Bardhaman, West Bengal.".It held that though the argument of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that there was a question of parity in this case with other accused may be correct, in view of the offences involved and custody undergone by Haque, his further custody was not warranted. "...He was already granted default bail by the court in Kochi. The appellant is in custody since November 2020 and chargesheets filed in 2021," the Bench noted. .As per the facts of the case, the then commandant of a battalion of the Border Security Force (BSF) in Roshanbagh, West Bengal had accepted illegal gratification to let cattle smugglers near the Indo-Bangladesh border go scot-free. When he was later apprehended by authorities at Alleppey Railway Station in Kerala, he was found with ₹43 lakh in currency notes.Haque was alleged to have played a key role in the deal with the commandant..Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Haque, argued that his client been in custody since November 6, 2021. It was stated all other accused, including the BSF commandant, have been enlarged on bailThe offences with which Haque has been charged are subject to a maximum sentence of seven years' imprisonment, Rohatgi pointed out. He also argued on the issue of CBI's jurisdiction to investigate a case when consent is withdrawn by a state..The High Court had turned down Haque’s bail application considering the nature, gravity and severity of accusations.