Cattle smuggling case: Delhi HC grants bail to Chartered Accountant of TMC leader Anubrata Mondal

New Delhi [India], September 22 : The Delhi High Court on Friday granted bail to Chartered Accountant Manish Kothari, said to be a close aide of jailed TMC strongman Anubrata Mondal in connection with the West Bengal cattle smuggling case.
The bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma while granting bail said the allegation against the present petitioner is not that he has done something which was beyond his scope of profession i.e. indulging in some activities which are totally unconnected with chartered accountancy.
The plea of the petitioner Manish Kothari that he has acted on the basis of information and records provided to him cannot be rejected outright at this stage. This is required to be tested during the course of the trial, said the Delhi High Court.
The court further noted that it is an admitted case that the petitioner herein was a chartered accountant of Anubrata Mondal. The case of the ED is that the present petitioner was instrumental in projecting the tainted money as untainted money. The apparent role of the petitioner is the filing of the income tax return.
It is a settled proposition that at the stage of consideration of the bail even under PMLA, the court has only to see the preponderance of probability. The court at this stage is not required to record the positive finding of acquittal. Such findings can be recorded only after recording and appreciation of the evidence by the learned trial court.
The case of the petitioner that Anubrata Mondal is shifting his blame on the petitioner only to save himself has to be tested during the course of the trial. Generally speaking, the professional would act on the instructions of his client. However, whether he has gone beyond his professional duty is something that is required to be seen and examined during the trial, stated the High Court.
Earlier Kothari's bail plea was dismissed by the trial court on June 9, 2023, and held that he had actively assisted the co-accused to convert the tainted money into untainted money and connived in the laundering thereto.
He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in March 2023 after his questioning at the ED headquarters for nearly 10 hours.
Anubrata Mondal, Trinamool Congress party's president of Birbhum district, said to be a close aide of chief minister Mamata Banerjee was earlier arrested by the CBI in connection with the same case last year.
ED has also arrested him in the alleged multi-crore cattle smuggling scam after questioning him inside the Asansol jail where he was lodged.
After the CBI, the ED arrested the TMC strongman in the cattle smuggling case. The TMC leader is facing an ED probe in the alleged money laundering case related to West Bengal's cattle smuggling case.
Enamul Hoque, who is the kingpin in the cattle smuggling case, and Saigal Hussain, Mondal’s bodyguard, are in Tihar jail presently.
Mondal was picked up by the CBI on August 12 from his Bolpur home after the central probe agency said it had found his direct involvement in the cattle smuggling scam. The TMC leader's name came up in the cattle smuggling scam case after the CBI registered an FIR in 2020.
As per CBI investigation, over 20,000 cattle heads had been seized by the Border Security Force (BSF) between 2015 and 2017 as they were being smuggled across the border.