TMC's Anubrata Mondal moves plea for transfer to Asansol prison

TMC leader Anubrata Mondal, arrested in a money laundering case linked to alleged cattle smuggling, has moved an application before a Delhi court for his transfer to the Asansol Correctional Home in West Bengal.

The application was filed before special judge Raghubir Singh.

The Enforcement Directorate had quizzed Mondal for 14 days, following which he was sent to judicial custody on March 21, the application said.

''The purpose for which the application for production warrant was filed has been fulfilled and the accused herein has been examined in ED custody, and thus, the requirement of keeping in custody in or near the court is already over.

''Hence, the accused is liable to be sent back to Asansol Correctional Home," the application filed by Mondal's advocates Mudit Jain and Karan Kumar Gogna said. It said at present there were no pending proceedings against Mondal in the national capital as the anti-money laundering agency did not file any "prosecution complaint" against him till now. "On the other hand, the accused herein is facing criminal prosecution in the scheduled offence pursuant to a charge sheet filed before the special judge, CBI Court, Asansol.... The said matter is listed next on March 31," the application said. It said Mondal was an under-trial in the CBI case and had a fundamental and basic right to defend himself in the matter. "It is submitted that in order to adequately, effectively and properly defend himself, the applicant herein along with his counsel has to be physically present at the time of hearing in the court...to instruct his lawyers and to properly defend himself, including to seek discharge from the said matter," the application said.

Mondal, the TMC's Birbhum district president and a close aide of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, was earlier arrested by the CBI in connection with the related corruption case.

The ED got custody of the arrested leader after doctors at the Joka-ESI Hospital in West Bengal found him fit to travel to New Delhi on March 7. He was subsequently produced before a court here.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)