Cattle scam: Anubrata Mondal’s judicial custody extended by another 14 days

Kolkata: A special CBI court on Friday extended the judicial custody of Trinamool Congress strongman and the party’s Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondal by another 14 days in connection with his alleged involvement in the multi-crore cattle smuggling scam in West Bengal.

He will be presented in the same Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court again on December 22. On Friday, Mondal’s counsel surprisingly did not move any bail plea on behalf of this client.

On Friday, CBI’s investigation officer, Sushanta Bhattacharya submitted the agency’s case diary in the matter to the court. After reading the case diary, the Judge of the special court, Rajesh Chakraborty expressed utter surprise over its contents and said that he had never come across such a thing in his 20 years of career as a judge. However, neither the judge or the agency’s investigation officer divulged what was mentioned in the case diary.

Sushanta Bhattacharya informed the court that there is a hearing at the Calcutta High Court soon regarding a bail application of Mondal and on that day CBI will disclose the contents of the case diary there. “This is just the trailer and the actual cinema is yet to be released,” the CBI’s investigating officer said.

On Friday, Mondal’s counsel did not move the bail plea on behalf of his client. However, he moved two other pleas. The first was to revoke the CBI’s action of freezing the bank accounts of Bhole Byom Rice Mill in Birbhum district, where Mondal’s daughter Sukanya Mondal is a partner.

The second plea was to return the two mobile phones of Mondal confiscated by CBI. However, the CBI’s counsel informed the court that forensic examinations of both the mobile phones have been completed, for the sake of further investigation return of the mobile phones would not be possible at this point of time. The judge said that he will hear the matter on the date of next hearing