Delhi Court issues notice to ED on plea of Anubrata Mondal seeking bail

The Rouse Avenue court has issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on the bail plea of Anubrata Mondal, who is one of the accused in the cattle smuggling case. He has been granted bail by the Supreme court in the CBI case.

Special CBI Judge Jyot Kler, on September 4, issued notice to ED and sought reply on the bail application.

The matter has been listed on September 11 for hearing.

Advocate Mustafa and Ahmad Ibrahim have filed bail petition on behalf of the accused.

It is submitted that the applicant has been in continued incarceration for almost 2 years. He was arrested on November 17, 2022, and there is no likelihood of the trial even getting started in the near future.

 

The Prosecuting Agency has been delaying the trial by not providing the accused persons with the complete set of documents along with the chargesheet, which is making it impossible for the counsel for the accused persons in preparing and arguing on the point of charge, the plea said.

The counsels also said that even if the arguments on charge are heard and charges are framed, it will take a very long time to complete the trial as there are a total of 85 witnesses mentioned in the prosecution complaints, which will inevitably take a very long time to complete.

It was also submitted that the accused is 65 years old and has age-related ailments. Apart from the various illnesses he had, he has now developed radiculopathy and severe pain in lower limb, making it extremely difficult for him to move without assistance.

It was further submitted that the applicant was advised MRI but the same could not be done because he was taken to a hospital where only a closed MRI facility was available and the applicant has a history of getting panic attacks and being claustrophobic.

Recently, the applicant had severe pain in his chest, because of which he was advised to get cardio angiography done. However, the same could not be done as he needs a family member to undergo such treatments; the counsels argued.

Currently, the applicant is in constant need of care and support and struggles to walk without assistance and is in need of round the clock medical care and attention, the counsel argued.