Calcutta HC rejects ED plea to question TMC leader’s ex-bodyguard in Delhi – Hindustan Times

KOLKATA: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) suffered a setback on Tuesday when the Calcutta high court rejected its prayer to take Sehgal Hossain, the former bodyguard of Trinamool Congress (TMC) strongman Anubrata Mondal, to Delhi for interrogation in the cattle smuggling case, officials of the federal agency said.

Justice Tirthankhar Ghosh, who heard the arguments and counter arguments on ED’s appeal for more than three hours on Tuesday, said he didn’t find any reason for the interrogation to be held in Delhi.

Dismissing ED’s argument that it has registered the case in Delhi, the single judge bench asked if ED would take suspects to New York if it had a branch there.

The judge ruled that ED could interrogate Sehgal Hossain in Bengal against production of legal documents and also asked the Central Bureau of Investigatuion (CBI) to state if it has any objection to Hossain being handed over to ED for interrogation.

Seghal Hossain was arrested by CBI on June 10 in connection with the cattle smuggling case. A state police constable, he was assigned as a security guard to Anubrata Mondal who was later arrested on August 11 in the same case. Both are in judicial custody.

Anirban Guha Thakurta, one of the lawyers who opposed ED plea on behalf of Hossain, welcomed the high court decision. “The court today established the authority of the justice system which the ED was trying to bypass by violating norms. It moved on a war footing to take our client to Delhi. ED moved an appeal on Sunday although the court was closed. We did not even get time to prepare for the hearing,” he said.

Hossain was arrested by a three-member ED team on October 7 after interrogating him for four hours inside the Asansol correctional home. The agency asked the special court to allow them to take Hossain for interrogation to Delhi but the judge declined permission.

CBI officials said Hossain and Mondal have been evasive on most questions pertaining to cattle smuggling case which relates to thousands of cows seized from smugglers at the India-Bangladesh border allegedly auctioned back to the people seeking to smuggle them out.

In its fourth charge sheet filed on October 7, CBI said Anubrata Mondal facilitated the cattle smuggling operation and made money out of it. Hossain is accused of accepting money from several people on Mondal’s behalf and alleged that 59 properties and businesses were registered, mostly in the Murshidabad district, in the names of members of Hossain’s family.