KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Anubrata Mondal, who was in judicial remand following his arrest by the CBI in August in a cattle smuggling case, was sent to police custody by a sub-divisional court in Bolpur on Tuesday in connection with a six-month-old assault case lodged with a local police station.
A Delhi court on Monday issued a warrant to produce Mondal, on a plea by the ED, in connection with a money laundering case related to the cattle smuggling case in West Bengal. He was produced before the judge at Dubrajpur court in Birbhum district based on a complaint by a TMC worker who claimed that he was assaulted by Mondal in May after learning that he may leave TMC.
The court remanded Mondal to police custody for seven days till December 27 following a prayer by the local police for a 14-day custody of the TMC leader for investigation and reconstruction of the chain of events in connection with the case. The case was lodged under Section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 325 (causing grievous hurt) and 307 (attempt to murder) of Indian Penal Code. Mondal's lawyer Moloy Mukherjee said that a bail prayer was not moved since the development was sudden. The police remand of Mondal effectively puts off any move by the ED for the time being to take him to Delhi based on the production warrant issued by a court there. Anubrata's lawyer also claimed that this case has nothing to do with the ED.
Mukherjee said: "The production warrant is yet to reach Asansol jail."