West Bengal cattle smuggling case: Delhi Court issues production warrant for Sehegal Hossain
Oct 17, 2022
New Delhi [India], October 17 : The Rouse Avenue Court of Delhi on Monday directed the jail Superintendent of Asansol Correctional Home to produce accused Sehegal Hossain, the former bodyguard of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Anubrata Mondal in Delhi in connection with West Bengal cattle smuggling case.
The Special Judge Raghubir Singh on Monday while issuing the order said, Jail Superintendent, Asansol Correctional Home, Asansol, Pashmim Bardhaman, West Bengal is hereby directed to produce accused Sehegal Hossain before this Court on receiving either the copy of this order or the production warrant or both.
The Court also said, while considering the application in hand, it becomes imperative to observe that the position as of now is quite changed in comparison to the position as was at the time of disposing of the earlier application of the ED vide order dated September 5, 2022. At that time, the respondent herein was not shown as an accused whereas now he has been formally arrested in connection with the present case.
Moreover, the judicial propriety also demands that the 'dictum' of the High Court of Calcutta should be honoured by this Court. Considering the same, the application in hand deserves to be disposed of as allowed.
ED informed the court that accused Sehegal Hossain is not included in the list of 12 accused persons so arrayed in the Complaint and Supplementary Complaint. However, he is in judicial custody in connection with the Scheduled Offence lodged by the CBI there in the State of West Bengal and as apprised during the course of arguments, he has also been taken into formal custody by the ED as on October 7 in pursuance of the permission of custodial interrogation order dated September 28 obtained from the CBI Court there in the State of West Bengal.
In April, the trial court had taken cognizance of a chargesheet filed by ED against former Trinamool Congress youth wing leader Vinay Mishra, his brother Vikas Mishra and Mohammad Enamul Haque, the alleged kingpin of a cattle smuggling racket across the India-Bangladesh border.
The trial Court noted that the prosecution complaint (Chargesheet) has been filed by the ED under Sections 44 and 45 of the Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act, 2002 for the commission of an offence under Sections 3 and 70 of PMLA punishable under Section 4 of PMLA.
The Trial Court judge while taking cognizance of the ED Chargesheet, said that he had gone through the complaint and the accompanying documents and there was sufficient material to proceed against the accused. Accordingly, the cognizance of the offence under Sections 3 and 70 PMLA punishable under Section 4 PMLA was taken.
Earlier in January, the Supreme Court had granted Enamul Haque bail in a CBI case. The bench of Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Dinesh Maheshwari had granted bail to Haque in a case involving the smuggling of cattle on the India-Bangladesh border with the help of the Border Security Force (BSF) commandant at the Murshidabad border, West Bengal.
It was alleged that the smuggling of cattle was carried out at Haque's instance and he paid bribes to the security personnel to facilitate the trade. Earlier, the CBI had also arrested Haque and contented that he had taken advantage of the porous borders to move items across. The CBI had contended that Haque is an influential man since he managed to enter India through the border despite the "Look Out Circular". "If he is released it would render further investigation vulnerable," contended the CBI.
