TMC leader Anubrata Mondal, daughter to arrive home after release on bail

Ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Anubrata Mondal and his daughter, Sukanya, were on Tuesday due to arrive home at Bolpur in West Bengal’s Birbhum district after their release on bail from Delhi’s Tihar jail. Their arrival will coincide with chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s presence in Bolpur for a meeting and to assess the flood situation in the region.

“Gates have been erected at several intersections. Hoardings have been put up. The town [Bolpur] residents want him to feel that he was missed,” said Subrata Bhakat, a functionary of the local traders association. “We want to keep it a simple affair. The chief minister will also be in town on an official tour.”

On July 27, the Supreme Court granted Mondal bail on the condition that he would surrender his passport and cooperate with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Mondal remained in Tihar in connection with a parallel Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe into an alleged cattle smuggling scam. He got bail in the ED case on Saturday over two years after his arrest in August 2022. Sukanya, who was arrested in April 2023 and named an accomplice in the case, got bail from a Delhi court on September 10.

The CBI and ED are probing over 70 properties, land deals, and businesses including two rice mills linked to Mondal and his daughter. Mondal is known as a close aide to Banerjee, who refers to him by his nickname, Kesto. Mondal, 64, is a school dropout who never held office or contested an election. Sukanya is a former primary school teacher.

A TMC leader said it was a coincidence that Banerjee would be in Bolpur on Tuesday and that he did not know whether she would meet Mondal. He added that TMC workers celebrated Mondal’s bail on Saturday. “Kesto Da’s return before the 2026 assembly polls means a lot to the workers. They have dusted and cleaned all party offices in the district, hoping he might pay surprise visits.”

Banerjee said Mondal was a “victim of conspiracy” following his arrest. Unlike TMC leader Partha Chatterjee, who lost the education portfolio and was suspended from the party following his arrest in an alleged school recruitment scam in July 2022, Mondal faced no action. Banerjee has been overseeing TMC’s Birbhum district unit since Mondal’s arrest.

TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said Banerjee had said Mondal should be welcomed like a soldier on his return. “She always maintained that he is innocent.”

Bharatiya Janata Party Rajya Sabha member Samik Bhattacharya said people are not foolish to mistake bail for an acquittal in a criminal case. “Mondal’s journey to CBI and ED offices will continue.”