Anubrata Mondal, the Trinamool Congress leader who is currently in CBI custody for his alleged involvement in a cattle-smuggling case, today said it was enough for him that "Didi" (West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee) was on his side. Mr Mondal was today acquitted in the 2010 Mangalkote poll violence case. The court cited "lack of evidence" in acquitting the 14 accused in the case, including Mr Mondal.
Just before being taken into a police vehicle for him to be escorted from Asansol to Kolkata for today's hearing in the Mangalkote case, Mr Mondal said: "I am not demoralised. It is enough for me that our leader, respected 'Didi', is on my side." He added: "Am I a dacoit or a thief that they will stop me? No one spends an entire life in jail. An undertrial has to be released at some point in time."
His comments came a day after Ms Banerjee told party workers: "Keshto [Anubrata Mondal] faces preventive detention during every election, but have they been able to stop him?" She also told her party workers to accord Mr Mondal a hero's welcome once he is released from CBI custody. When asked to respond to his leader's praise and support for him, Mr Mondal said: "There is no word above Mamata Banerjee's."
Unlike the case of Partha Chatterjee, who was shown the door by the party following his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the school jobs scam, Ms Banerjee has stood by Mr Mondal.
Commenting on Mr Mondal's adamant views and Ms Banerjee's open show of support for her jailed lieutenant, BJP's Suvendu Adhikari, Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal Assembly, said: "Mamata Banerjee runs her party to earn money and collect money through politics. She thinks he [Mr Mondal] is a braveheart. Just wait. She will have to visit Delhi's Tihar Jail to meet the braveheart."
Reacting to his acquittal in the Mangalkot case, Mr Mondal's lawyer Souvik Basu Thakur said: "Anubrata Mondal was acquitted in a case of political violence where it was alleged that my client was involved. It is a victory of truth."
Mr Mondal, who is the Birbhum district President of Trinamool, has delivered favourable poll results for his party for more than a decade now, though Opposition leaders have complained that he did not allow free and fair elections in the district.
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