New Delhi: The Delhi High Court could not finish hearing final submissions in the bail plea of Enamul Haque on Tuesday due to paucity of time. Haque was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on February 18, 2022, as a prime accused in a case related to cattle smuggling across the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal.
Last week, the court had said that it will hear senior advocate Vikas Pahwa’s final submissions in the case on Tuesday.
Pahwa, who is Haque’s counsel, submitted that his client has been granted bail by the Apex Court in a similar case by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in January 2022.
Pahwa submitted that in the CBI case, the investigation is still ongoing and no charges have been framed in a year.
He added that the elementary and foundational facts have not been established by the ED in the present case.
The court listed the hearing to continue on February 21.
Pahwa had appeared before Justice Anup J. Bhambhani’s bench during the last hearing.
Earlier, Pahwa had submitted that this is the third arrest of his client.
Pahwa had argued that the ED should satisfy the court on how the proceeds of crime are generated in this case.
He had also submitted that all the allegations in the CBI chargesheet named accused persons, but nothing about the offences, cattle smuggling, etc, and it has no supporting evidence at all.
“They have not identified the hawala channels, no bank statements, no statements that money has come from Bangladesh, nothing on how the money was used,” he had said.
He had also pointed that they have just picked up a diary but there is no evidence of who had given the money to Manoj Sinha, who is Haque’s staff. They (ED) have just picked the entries from the diary.
Pahwa had submitted that the link of the proceeds of crime is missing.
He had said: “It is ED’s duty to establish the foundation facts of the case. The burden of proof shifts only when trial starts and the chargesheet is filed.”
On December 13, Pahwa had argued that the investigation agency failed to show scheduled offences, and proceeds of crime, and thus, Section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act falls flat in the case against Haque.
Pahwa had submitted that what Haque is doing is taking place throughout the country, which is buying cattle auctioned by the government and then selling them in the market.
He had contended that money laundering is not a standalone offence according to the apex court’s judgment in the Vijay Madanlal case.
He had argued that the ED is accusing Haque of cattle smuggling under Sections 120B, 420 of the IPC and not bribery. He had added that if cattle are smuggled out of the country then the money has to come to India.
Pahwa had also submitted that the ED is showing two transactions, one of Rs 12.5 crore and the other of Rs 6.1 crore to two different people based on a handwritten diary by Sinha, who has not been charge-sheeted, nor is an accused or his handwriting has been matched.
Moreover, Sinha doesn’t even know Haque.
“In fact, the ED is relying on a certified true copy they took from CBI,” Pahwa had added.
–IANS