SC grants bail to alleged kingpin of cattle smuggling racket on Indo-Bangla border
New Delhi Jan 24 PTI The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to a prime accused in a multi-crore cattle smuggling racket operating on the Indo-Bangladesh border in alleged collusion with officials of Border Security Force and customsA bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Dinesh Maheshwari allowed the appeal against the Calcutta High Court order by which it had dismissed a bail plea of Mohd Enamul Haque alleged to be the kingpin of cattle smuggling racketThe bench said having due regard to the nature of allegations the offence involved and the maximum sentence the continued detention of the appellant who has suffered custody of over a year and two months is not warranted In the circumstances we order and direct that the appellant Haque shall be released on bail subject to such terms and conditions as may be opposed by the special judge CBI at Asansol Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi appearing for CBI opposed the bail plea and supported the judgement of the High Court saying that the prior involvement of Haque in a case at Kochi would indicate that he is habituated to committing similar offences arising out of the smuggling of cattle across the porous Indo-Bangladesh border There are serious allegations against him of having exploited the conditions at the border and therefore indicate national security threat though the appellant was permitted to travel abroad in terms of the conditions which are imposed by the competent court at Thiruvananthapuram by granting bail the appellant evaded the lookout circular which was issued against him by entering through land frontier through West Bengal he said Lekhi added that the investigation is still pending involving the complicity of BSF officials and it would be inappropriate to grant bail to him He added that the High Court has for justifiable reason declined to grant bail on the ground of parity due to the fact the appellant was the main perpetrator on whose behest the conspiracy was hatched and the bribe was paidSenior advocate Mukul Rohatgi appearing for Haque submitted that he was in custody since November 6 2020 and the submission of the charge sheet and supplementary charge sheet after investigation renders the accused in custody unnecessarilyHe submits that all the other accused save and except for the appellant has been enlarged on bail and bail has also been granted to the commandant of the BSF who is alleged to have accepted the bribe He added that all the offences of which Haque is charged are of the maximum sentence of seven years and there is a wider issue involved on the CBI jurisdiction to investigate the offences upon the withdrawal of consent by the state of West BengalThe bench said Having heard the rival submissions we are of the considered opinion that the continued detention of the appellant in custody is not warranted in the facts of the present caseIt noted that Haque has already been granted default bail by the special judge CBI at Kochi in May 2018 In the regular case out of which the present appeal arises from the denial of bail to the applicant the appellant was arrested and is in custody since November 6 2020 The charge sheet has been submitted on February 6 2021 and supplementary charge sheet on February 23 2021 it notedNoting the facts of the case the bench said that on January 31 2018 the CBI has registered a case against him in Kochi and the allegations against him were that the commandant of 83 battalion of Border Security Force BSF in Roshanbagh in Murshidabad West Bengal had accepted illegal gratification for rendering favour to alleged smugglers of cattle on the Indo-Bangladesh border which had resulted in the seizure of Rs 4530 lakh in currency notes when the commandant disembarked in Alleppey railway station in Kerala It noted that on March 4 2018 Haque was arrested in connection with the case registered in Kochi from Kolkata and was produced before the court in Thiruvananthapuram on March 7 2018 Though the appellant was denied bail on March 21 2018 by the special judge CBI court in Thiruvananthapuram he was granted default bail on May 7 2018 the bench said and added that in the meantime on April 6 2018 the CBI registered a Preliminary Enquiry PE against another commandant of 36 battalion of the BSF in which Haque was again named The allegation in the fresh case was that cattle were sent from India to Bangladesh in large numbers by payment of illegal gratification to BSF personnel It has been alleged that between December 2015 and April 2017 there was the seizure of cattle but immediately thereafter auctions were held and traders including the petitioner or his nominees procured them at a lower price by paying bribes to BSF and custom officials the bench notedIt further said that allegation was also made that an amount of Rs 1280 crore representing the payment of a bribe to the commandant of the 36th battalion of the BSF came to be deposited in a joint account On September 21 2020 a fresh case was registered against Haque under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the IPC while in the proceedings arising in the case at Kochi he was permitted to travel to UAE and thereafter to other countries by various orders of the court PTI MNL MNL RKS RKS
New Delhi Jan 24 PTI The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to a prime accused in a multi-crore cattle smuggling racket operating on the Indo-Bangladesh border in alleged collusion with officials of Border Security Force and customsA bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Dinesh Maheshwari allowed the appeal against the Calcutta High Court order by which it had dismissed a bail plea of Mohd Enamul Haque alleged to be the kingpin of cattle smuggling racketThe bench said having due regard to the nature of allegations the offence involved and the maximum sentence the continued detention of the appellant who has suffered custody of over a year and two months is not warranted In the circumstances we order and direct that the appellant Haque shall be released on bail subject to such terms and conditions as may be opposed by the special judge CBI at Asansol Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi appearing for CBI opposed the bail plea and supported the judgement of the High Court saying that the prior involvement of Haque in a case at Kochi would indicate that he is habituated to committing similar offences arising out of the smuggling of cattle across the porous Indo-Bangladesh border There are serious allegations against him of having exploited the conditions at the border and therefore indicate national security threat though the appellant was permitted to travel abroad in terms of the conditions which are imposed by the competent court at Thiruvananthapuram by granting bail the appellant evaded the lookout circular which was issued against him by entering through land frontier through West Bengal he said Lekhi added that the investigation is still pending involving the complicity of BSF officials and it would be inappropriate to grant bail to him He added that the High Court has for justifiable reason declined to grant bail on the ground of parity due to the fact the appellant was the main perpetrator on whose behest the conspiracy was hatched and the bribe was paidSenior advocate Mukul Rohatgi appearing for Haque submitted that he was in custody since November 6 2020 and the submission of the charge sheet and supplementary charge sheet after investigation renders the accused in custody unnecessarilyHe submits that all the other accused save and except for the appellant has been enlarged on bail and bail has also been granted to the commandant of the BSF who is alleged to have accepted the bribe He added that all the offences of which Haque is charged are of the maximum sentence of seven years and there is a wider issue involved on the CBI jurisdiction to investigate the offences upon the withdrawal of consent by the state of West BengalThe bench said Having heard the rival submissions we are of the considered opinion that the continued detention of the appellant in custody is not warranted in the facts of the present caseIt noted that Haque has already been granted default bail by the special judge CBI at Kochi in May 2018 In the regular case out of which the present appeal arises from the denial of bail to the applicant the appellant was arrested and is in custody since November 6 2020 The charge sheet has been submitted on February 6 2021 and supplementary charge sheet on February 23 2021 it notedNoting the facts of the case the bench said that on January 31 2018 the CBI has registered a case against him in Kochi and the allegations against him were that the commandant of 83 battalion of Border Security Force BSF in Roshanbagh in Murshidabad West Bengal had accepted illegal gratification for rendering favour to alleged smugglers of cattle on the Indo-Bangladesh border which had resulted in the seizure of Rs 4530 lakh in currency notes when the commandant disembarked in Alleppey railway station in Kerala It noted that on March 4 2018 Haque was arrested in connection with the case registered in Kochi from Kolkata and was produced before the court in Thiruvananthapuram on March 7 2018 Though the appellant was denied bail on March 21 2018 by the special judge CBI court in Thiruvananthapuram he was granted default bail on May 7 2018 the bench said and added that in the meantime on April 6 2018 the CBI registered a Preliminary Enquiry PE against another commandant of 36 battalion of the BSF in which Haque was again named The allegation in the fresh case was that cattle were sent from India to Bangladesh in large numbers by payment of illegal gratification to BSF personnel It has been alleged that between December 2015 and April 2017 there was the seizure of cattle but immediately thereafter auctions were held and traders including the petitioner or his nominees procured them at a lower price by paying bribes to BSF and custom officials the bench notedIt further said that allegation was also made that an amount of Rs 1280 crore representing the payment of a bribe to the commandant of the 36th battalion of the BSF came to be deposited in a joint account On September 21 2020 a fresh case was registered against Haque under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the IPC while in the proceedings arising in the case at Kochi he was permitted to travel to UAE and thereafter to other countries by various orders of the court PTI MNL MNL RKS RKS
