West Bengal: TMC's Anubrata Mondal, 13 others cleared in Birbhum violence case

An MP/MLA court decided on Friday that Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mondal and 13 other individuals were not guilty of the charge of inciting violence in Mangalkot in the Birbhum district in 2010. Mr. Mondal, after being acquitted, said he was framed.

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Mr. Mondal, the TMC leader in Birbhum, and the other 13 defendants were released by the judge in the MP/MLA court in Bidhannagar for lack of evidence.

As the court saw it, the prosecution's witnesses did not add up to enough proof of the defendants' presence at the site of the crime.

Mr. Mondal and the other 13 were charged with participating in the political violence that left several individuals wounded in March of 2010. Left Front, formerly headed by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), was in control of West Bengal.

One former CPI-M member reportedly lost a hand in a country bomb burst during the conflict with TMC supporters in Mangalkot.

CBI officials arrested the TMC leader on August 11 for his alleged involvement in a livestock smuggling ring, and he has since been held in judicial custody.

Birbhum district president of TMC Mr. Mondal told reporters earlier in the day that he is relieved to have "Didi" (Mamata Banerjee) on his side.

The men in the Chief Minister Banerjee's party refer to her as "Didi" (older sister). Ms. Mondal told reporters, "None spends his/her entire life in jail," as she was being transported from the Asansol correctional facility to the Bidhannagar MP/MLA court in the city. At some point, an undertrial must be made public. "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.

Kunal Ghosh, a spokesman for the Trinamool Congress (TMC), stated that the opposition's efforts to defame the state's governing party after losing the 2021 election in West Bengal were shown by Mr. Mondal's acquittal in the Mangalkot case.

According to Ghosh's PTI interview, the party is certain that the truth will win in the instances in which its leaders have been accused of smearing the party's reputation.

There will be no room for false accusations in the court of justice, and the truth will eventually out. Our satisfaction with the court's decision in the Mangalkot case is shown by his statement.

Sujan Chakraborty, a member of the CPI(M) central committee, expressed doubt about the state government's commitment to the case since the accused is a member of the governing TMC.

Anubrata Mondal is on one side, while the government is on the other. He said that the government would inevitably lose the lawsuit if it was not committed to doing so.

When Partha Chatterjee, a former minister and TMC secretary general, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a school recruitment fraud, the party expelled him. However, Banerjee has supported Mondal.

On Thursday, Chief Minister Banerjee had remarked, "Anubrata will out of jail one day and you will offer him a hero's welcome when he does so."

(With inputs from PTI)