New Delhi, Aug 22 (IANS) The Delhi High Court on Tuesday granted one more week’s time to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to file written submissions in response to bail plea of Sukanya Mondal, who was arrested in a money laundering case related to the multi-crore cattle smuggling case.
On July 5, a bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma, had issued notice on bail plea of Trinamool Congress strongman Anubrata Mondal’s daughter and asked it to file a status report in the case.
Sukanya’s counsel sought bail on grounds that she is a woman and is in custody for more than 110 days.
Justice Sharma has now listed the matter for hearing next on September 11.
Sukanya has challenged a trial court’s order dated June 1 dismissing her bail plea.
The accused has also sought quashing of the petition seeking dismissal of the ED’s complaint and all subsequent proceedings related to the case.
During the hearing on July 5, Advocate Amit Kumar appearing for the accused, had submitted that she is a “young woman” of 31 years of age and that the trial court denied her bail without acknowledging facts and relevant law in true and correct perspective.
Sukanya’s plea claims that she is innocent and falsely implicated in the case and that her custody is no more required as the probe agency is over with its investigation and has already filed the supplementary complaint qua her.
The lawyer had also sought equality for his client in comparison to the co-accused, Tania Sanyal, who had been granted bail by the trial court.
He had argued that the petitioner’s case was stronger in terms of evidence. According to the submitted petition, Sanyal, who is the wife of BSF commandant Satish Kumar and one of the accused, is alleged to have received a bribe from Enamul Haque, another accused in the case, for engaging in cattle smuggling and subsequently engaging in money laundering activities.
On April 26, the ED had arrested Sukanya, a primary school teacher in West Bengal’s Birbhum district, after quizzing her for her alleged involvement in the case.
(IANS)