I n a fresh twist, a court in Dubrajpur has granted Dubrajpur Police seven days’ custody of beleaguered Trinamul Congress leader Anubrata Mondal in connection with an attemptto-murder case filed yesterday evening. The development came a day after the Rouse Court in Delhi allowed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to take custody of Mr Mondal in the cross-border cattle smuggling case and to take him to Delhi.

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But till Tuesday morning, no official intimation had been received by the authorities at the Asansol Special Correctional Home where Mr Mondal has been staying since he was sent to judicial custody after being arrested by the CBI. This morning, a huge police contingent of the Asansol Durgapur Police Commissionerate (ADPC) and Birbhum Police reached Asansol Special Correctional Home and took him to Dubrajpur sub divisional court in an attempt to murder case lodged earlier by TMC leader, Shib Thakur Mondal.

Shib Thakur Mondal has alleged that Anubrata Mondal had beaten him in the party office and tried to kill him by throttling his neck. He has lodged an FIR against Anubrata Mondal at Dubrajpur Police Station yesterday evening one and half years after the alleged incident. The Dubrajpur Police has sought 14 days police custody for Mr Mondal’s interrogation, but the court has granted seven days police custody.

This means that for the next seven days the TMC Birbhum district president will be staying in the lock up of Dubrajpur Police Station in his home district of Birbhum. “He has beaten me before the 2021 polls and removed me from my post and threatened with dire consequences. Yesterday evening I have lodged the FIR and want his punishment in my case,” said Shib Thakur Mondal. Sources said that, with the grant of fresh police custody by the court, the ED will not be able to take Mr Mondal into their custody right now and will once again have to move court.

Meanwhile, the advocates of Mr Mondal will also be moving a higher court seeking a stay order on the Rouse Court’s order yesterday. No officials of ED have arrived in Asansol Special Correctional Home with the Rouse Court order. The ED has taken Sehgal Hussein the body guard of Anubrata Mondal into their custody already and at present he is in judicial custody in New Delhi.

Mr Moloy Mukherjee, TMC vice president of Birbhum district claimed that Shib Thakur Mondal has been suspended from the party for lodging a FIR against Anubrata Mondal. The develoment has rocked the state politics once again as both the CPM and the BJP has raised some serious questions on the timing of the FIR and the prompt actions taken by the Birbhum police.