Kolkata (West Bengal): Senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Anubrata Mondal on Thursday appeared at the MP/MLA court in Bidhannagar in connection with the 2010 Mangalkot blast case.
Mondal was produced in court by police from the Asansol Special Correctional Home where he is lodged in currently in an alleged cattle smuggling case.
The TMC Birbhum district president has been named in a chargesheet in the Mangalkot blast case. Mondal has pleaded not guilty in the case and said that he has been implicated.
“This is an old case and he already got bail in this. Today, he just had to appear in court. Other witnesses were also presented today. The next date is tomorrow when the proceedings will begin,” Anubrata Mondal’s advocate said.
Mandal is considered a close aide of Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. He was sent to 14-day judicial custody by the CBI Special Court in the alleged cattle smuggling case on August 24.
Mondal was summoned several times by the CBI but he had evaded citing health issues. He was finally arrested on August 11 from his residence in Bolpur in Birbhum district.
Meanwhile, Mondal’s personal guard Sehgal Hossain who was arrested in the same cattle smuggling case and lodged in the Asansol Special Correctional Home was today presented before the special CBI court.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on September 21, 2020, arrested a former Border Security Force (BSF) Commandant, in connection with an illegal cattle smuggling case across the Indo-Bangladesh border.
Anubrata Mondal’s name came under the CBI scanner during the investigation of the case, the agency had claimed. The arrest also led to a war of words between the BJP and the TMC. While TMC had alleged that the CBI summons to Mondal was “political vendetta”. The BJP leaders have repeatedly accused the TMC regime of fostering corruption.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee speaking at a public rally on TMC’s foundation day, accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of misusing probe agencies and claimed a media trial was on in important cases. (ANI)
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