Despite getting bail from the Supreme Court on Tuesday, the Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mondal will have to stay in jail. The apex court granted bail to the Mondal in the CBI case related to cattle smuggling across India-Bangladesh border.
A Bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma imposed a bunch of conditions on Mondal while granting him bail.
Mondal has been directed to surrender his passport and cooperate with probe agency during. The apex court further warned him against influencing witnesses.
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The top court today delivered the verdict in the SLP filed by Mondal challenging the Calcutta High Court's refusal to grant him bail.
Arrested in August 2022, Mondal is accused of allegedly smuggling cattle to Bangladesh by bribing Border Security Force (BSF) personnel.
Mondal will continue to stay behind bars as he is also arrested in a money laundering case by the Enforcement Directorate.
Mondal who has been jailed for nearly two years, told the court that he has not been provided English version of the chargesheet, which is in Bengali.
Justice Trivedi asked why as a Bengali, Mondal could not translate the chargesheet.
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Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Mondal told the court that the chargesheet run over 1 lakh pages out of which 10,000 pages are in Bengali and called this a "mockery of justice." He further contended that other co-accused has already been granted bail in the case.
ASG SV Raju appearing for CBI opposed bail for Mondal and said he was an influencial person and his release could impact the case.
However, the top court said that it was inclined to release Mondal with strict conditions and granted bail to the Trinamool Congress leader.