Bail for three accused including PK Halder's brother in Kolkata
October 6, 20242 Mins Read
International Desk: Accused of embezzling and smuggling thousands of rupees from Bangladesh. Kolkata court has granted the bail application of three associates of K Halder. The accomplices are PK Halder's brother Pranesh Halder, Imon Halder alias Imam Hussain and Sharmi Halder alias Amana Sultana.

PK Halder

The major development in the case came for the first time after the arrest of PK Halder by India's investigative agency Enforcement Directorate (ED) on May 14, 2022 from Greentech City, Board House 15, Vedic Village, Rajarhat, West Bengal. The trial of this case started in the last week of last August.

The case came up before Special ED Court-1 Judge Prasanna Mukherjee of Kolkata's City Sessions Court on Saturday (October 5). At that time, the judge rejected the bail application of PK Halder alias Prashant Kumar Halder, Swapan Mistry alias Swapan Maitra, Uttam Mistry alias Uttam Maitra after hearing the answers of both sides. However, PK Halder's brother Pranesh Halder, Imon Halder alias Imam Hussain and Sharmi Halder alias Amana Sultana were granted bail.

On this day, ED lawyer Arijit Chakraborty told reporters that the bail application of three of the accused has been granted by the court. Under Section 479 of the Indian Penal Code (formerly the Money Laundering Act-2002 or PMLA), those arrested have already spent one-third of the total sentence in penitentiaries while under trial.

In this context, the court granted their bail application. However, the court asked to submit a personal bond of Rs 5 lakh as a bail condition. At the same time, a complete ban has been imposed on them from going outside India and meeting any witness or eyewitness in this case.

Arijit said that the other three accused in this case, PK Halder, Swapan Mistry alias Swapan Maitra, Uttam Mistry alias Uttam Maitra, as they are convicted accused in Bangladesh, the court has canceled their bail application. The next hearing of this case will be on November 8.

Since the arrest, five male accused have been in Kolkata's Presidency Jail for almost two and a half years. On the other hand, the only female accused is in the female cell of Alipur court. Three of the accused are currently out on bail despite being granted bail. They may be released from jail next Monday as Sunday is a weekend.