Calcutta High Court on Wednesday rejected a bail prayer by arrested Trinamul Birbhum leader Anubrata Mondal in the cattle-smuggling case.

Eminent lawyer Kapil Sibal had moved court in the third week of December seeking bail for Mondal who was arrested by the CBI in August last year.

The division bench headed by Justice Joymalya Bagchi accepted the CBI counsel V.P Singh’s claim that “paramount influence of the petitioner as a political heavyweight and materials collected showing misuse of such power to influence witnesses and derail the investigation places him in a unique position in comparison to others who are on bail....”

Sibal had argued that his client Mondal had spent 145 days in jail in connection with the cattle-smuggling case but a few other accused persons in the case had got bail.

He also claimed that investigators failed to implicate Mondal in the absence of any evidence against him.

Countering Sibal, the CBI counsel said Mondal was influential and would tamper with evidence if he got bail.

CBI lawyer Singh said the CBI had evidence that Mondal made 39 video calls to several persons during his stay in jail. Singh claimed investigations revealed Mondal’s link to last year’s Bogtui carnage. The CBI in an earlier affidavit submitted in court claimed Mondal spoke twice to Trinamul leader Anarul Hossain, the main accused in the massacre, before the incident.

Hearing both sides, the division bench stated that at this stage of the investigation, bail couldn’t be granted to Mondal.

Suvendu aide

Justice Rajasekhar Mantha of the high court on Wednesday asked state police to release Ramchandra Panda, a Contai trader reportedly close to BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari, and asked the CBI to find out who lodged a case of financial irregularities against him. Panda was arrested on December 28. His wife Kakoli accused the police of arresting him with a political motive.

The judge asked the CBI to find out if the police forced Panda to sign on blank paper. Kakoli’s counsel told court that the police had forced Panda to sign on blank paper and there was no proper FIR against him.