A Special Court of Delhi has taken cognizance of a chargesheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate (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 India-Bangladesh border.
The 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.
Special Judge CBI Sanjay Garg, 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.
The court issued summons against Vinay Mishra, his brother Vikas Mishra and other accused in the matter and directed them to appear before the court on June 1, 2022.
Nitesh Rana, Special Public Prosecutor, appeared for the ED and made submissions on the point of cognizance.
According to the ED, Enamul Haque has previously also been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for his alleged involvement in cattle smuggling cases on the India-Bangladesh border. Earlier in January, the Supreme Court had granted him bail.
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 "Look Out Circular". "If he is released it would render further investigation vulnerable," contended the CBI.
( With inputs from ANI )
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