Kolkata, Mar 3 (IANS): In a last-ditch effort to prevent Enforcement Directorate (ED)from taking him to New Delhi in connection with the multi-crore cattle smuggling scam in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress strongman and the party's Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondal approached Calcutta High Court on Friday.

On Thursday, a special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) at Asansol in West Burdwan district cleared the decks for the ED to take Mondal to New Delhi. On Friday, Mondal's counsel approached the Calcutta High Court's single-judge bench of Justice Bibek Chaudhuri to vacate that order of the special court of CBI on this count.

It is learnt that another counsel of Mondal is simultaneously approaching the Delhi High Court with a similar plea. High-profile senior advocate of the Supreme Court of India Kapil Sibal is holding the brief for Mondal at Calcutta High Court. Sibal has appealed to the court to hear the matter on a fast-track basis.

Throwing a subtle jibe on the development, BJP's national vice-president and the party Lok Sabha member Dilip Ghosh said that whatever attempt might Mondal make, ultimately he will have to go to the national capital. "He somehow managed to escape his Delhi trip during the chilling cold this winter. However, he will not be able to escape that this time when summer has already set in," Ghosh said.

Trinamool Congress's Rajya Sabha member Dr Santanu Sen questioned the justification behind the ED's move to take Mondal to the national capital. "I heard that the ED is expanding its office space and infrastructure in Kolkata. So, what are these initiatives meant for when ultimately the agency needs to take Mondal to Delhi?" he questioned.