The CBI on Thursday arrested Trinamool Congress ‘strongman’ and national executive committee member Anubrata Mondal in the cattle smuggling case.
Notably, the CBI, in a rather dramatic arrest, picked up the heavyweight leader of Trinamool (TMC) from his house in Bolpur, West Bengal today around 10 in the morning. As per reports, a team of the CBI went to his residence with the CRPF being deployed outside and arrested Mamata Banerjee’s top aide. The CBI team was accompanied by a team of 100 CRPF personnel, who had surrounded the residence while the CBI officials entered the house and arrested the TMC leader.
When the CBI team arrived at the residence of Anubrata Mondal with a search warrant, they found the house locked from the inside, and they had to wait for around half an hour for it to open. When the gate was finally opened, they entered the house and conducted a search operation. They recovered documents and electronic devices and questioned residents of the house. The mobile phones of everyone in the house were taken away and Mondal was arrested.
Responding to the arrest of Mamata Banerjee’s ‘Bahubali’ leader, Bengal Leader of opposition and BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari remarked, “Anubrata is a MAFIA. Mamata Banerjee created him.”
The CBI has detained Trinamool Congress (TMC) Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondal in connection with the cattle smuggling case, but this is not the only instance in which the TMC official has been implicated. In reality, Mamata Banerjee’s close aide has come under harsh public criticism in a number of other cases.
CBI summons TMC’s Anubrata Mondal in West Bengal post-poll violence case
In June this year, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) interrogated Trinamool Congress (TMC) Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondal as part of its inquiry into episodes of violence in West Bengal following assembly elections last year.
The CBI questioned him in connection with the death of one Gaurav Banerjee, who was killed in the Birbhum district, following the assembly polls result in 2021. “CBI quizzed him about his involvement in the case,” sources said.
The TMC leader was also accused of being involved in the Birbhum massacre, in which nine people were charred to death in West Bengal. Speaking about the incident and the preliminary report the CBI submitted in the Birbhum violence case to the Calcutta High Court, West Bengal BJP vice president Saumitra Khan criticised TMC leaders Anubrata Mandal and Rana Singh for their alleged involvement in the Birbhum violence and claimed that the violence was preplanned and carried out at will.
EC keeps TMC leader under surveillence
Last year in April, the Election Commission of India (EC) issued orders to keep Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mondal under the strict surveillance of the executive magistrate and CAPF from 5 pm on April 27 till 7 am on April 30 to ensure free and fair polling.
This decision taken by the Election Commission came after the representatives of the poll workers expressed fear of the leader and said they would feel threatened if the TMC Birbhum district president keeps moving from one booth to the other on the polling day.
Anubrata Mondal has a history of being kept under surveillance by the Election Commission
Mondal was kept under surveillance during the 2019 General elections after the representatives of the poll workers expressed fear of the leader and said they would feel threatened if the TMC Birbhum district president keeps moving from one booth to the other on the polling day.
In 2016 too, during the West Bengal Assembly polls, Anubrata Mondal had been put under 24-hour surveillance by the Election Commission.
In July 2013, he had asked his supporters at a public meeting in Birbhum to hurl bombs at the police and burn down houses of rebel TMC candidates in panchayat elections.
In September 2018, he was caught on camera allegedly instructing TMC workers to get a party rebel and a woman BJP leader arrested on a false case of possessing cannabis.
In April 2019, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Anubrata Mondal made an appeal to the Election Commission (EC) officials to let him rig the polls and allow his people to “manage” 500-600 votes per booth.
The TMC leader is notorious for giving provoking speeches and frequently threatened the police with dire repercussions if they disobeyed his orders. He has also often been seen instructing the police to incriminate Opposition workers in false cases.
Anubrata Mondal asks party workers to frame a local BJP leader in a fake Ganja case
In 2018, Anubrata Mondal had been caught on camera telling his party workers to frame a local BJP leader Sangita Chakraborty in a fake Ganja case. In the video, that had gone viral on social media, the TMC leader was seen telling party workers that if they are not able to ‘control’ her, they should get her arrested. Mondal is also seen in the video telling the party workers to get the SP on the line so he can pass on the instructions.
Sangita Chakraborty had reportedly stated to the media that she was feeling threatened and she had lodged a complaint at the Aushgram police station and had also approached to the National Human Rights Commission. She had also added that she had been threatened and attacked before and if something untoward happened to her or her family members, Anubrata Mondal will be responsible.
Anubrata Mondal asks party men to burn houses of political opponents and hurl bombs at the police
In 2013, he had allegedly asked his partymen to throw bombs at police personnel and burn down the houses of panchayat election candidates who are contesting against TMC.
Anubrata Mondal accused of shielding sand mining mafias
Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Bhadu Sheikh, whose murder last year, was followed by the massacre of eight people in West Bengal’s Birbhum district, was allegedly involved in extortion from transporters of sand and stone chips in the region, illegal sand mining and stone quarrying in the region.
After the murder of Bhadu Sheikh, Newton Sheikh, a member of Barshal panchayat, alleged in a video message that Bhadu was involved in extorting money from sand and stone transporters. He said that Anubrata Mondal, the TMC district unit president, had received many complaints against Bhadu, all of which fell on deaf ears.
Anarul Hossain, the TMC’s community block unit president at Rampurhat, however, dismissed the allegations. “Newton Sheikh is making false allegations because he had differences with Bhadu Sheikh. He never lodged any complaint with the party,” said Hossain.
Anubrata Monal popularised Mamata Banerjee’s genocidal election slogan ‘Khela Hobe’
Anubrata Mondal, known to be as one of Mamata Banerjee’s close associates popularised Mamata Banerjee’s genocidal election slogan- ‘Khela Hobe’ during the state elections last year. Initially, the slogan appeared as a harmless jibe against the opposition but soon started to showcase its true colours. TMC members made a wall painting in Bengal wherein Mamata Banerjee was seen hitting PM Modi’s head instead of a football. During her election rallies, the West Bengal Chief Minister continued to provoke her party workers to retaliate against the central armed forces and BJP workers. Several instances of violence were thus reported during the various stages of polling and have continued ever since.
