West Bengal: TMC leader Anubrata Mondal acquitted in Mangalkot violence case, says he was framed

Anubrato Mondal.

Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mondal and 13 others were acquitted on Friday in a case of violence at Mangalkot in Birbhum district in 2010 by an MP/MLA court here. Following his acquittal, Mondal claimed that he had been framed in the case.

The judge of the MP/MLA court at Bidhannagar here acquitted Mondal, TMC leader from Birbhum, and the 13 other accused for want of evidence.

The court held that the prosecution could not prove from the testimonies of witnesses that the accused was present at the scene of violence.

Mondal and the 13 others were accused in the political violence that took place in March 2010 in which some people were injured. The erstwhile CPI(M)-led Left Front was in power in West Bengal at the time. It was alleged that a few activists of the then ruling CPI-M were injured in the clash with TMC supporters in Mangalkot and one of them lost a hand in a country bomb blast.

The TMC leader is at present in judicial custody following his arrest on August 11 by CBI in connection with the cattle smuggling case. Earlier in the day, Mondal, who is the Birbhum district president of TMC, told reporters that he is happy to have 'Didi' (Mamata Banerjee) on his side during the crisis. Banerjee is called 'Didi (elder sister) by her partymen and supporters.

Answering questions by journalists while being taken out of Asansol correctional home on way to Bidhannagar MP/MLA court in the city, Mondal said: "No one spends his/her entire life in jail. An undertrial has to be released at one point in time".

"I am not demoralised. It is enough for me that our leader, our respected Didi, is on my side," he asserted before being whisked away in a car. TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said the acquittal of Mondal in the Mangalkot case again proves the opposition's designs to malign the ruling party in West Bengal after failing to combat it in the electoral battle in the state in 2021.