TMC’s Anubrata Mondal gets back Y-category security cover after Mamata meeting | Kolkata

KOLKATA: The Birbhum district police on Wednesday restored the Y-category security cover to district Trinamool Congress heavyweight Anubrata Mondal that was withdrawn in May this year after he allegedly abused a police inspector and his family over phone, people familiar with the matter said.

The decision to restore the security cover was taken after chief minister Mamata Banerjee met Mondal during her Birbhum tour from July 27 to 29.

Mondal, a prime accused in the cattle smuggling case, was released on bail in September last year after spending two years in jail. His daughter too was arrested and lodged at Tihar jail in Delhi.

Birbhum superintendent of police Amandeep did not comment on the restoration of Mondal’s security cover.

Mondal had been president of the TMC’s Birbhum unit for around 20 years and was removed from the post in May. The Trinamool Congress, however, accommodated him in a nine-member core committee that was formed.

Mondal was elevated as the committee’s convenor after his meeting with Banerjee this week.

“I was informed about the security cover just now,” Mondal told reporters on Wednesday evening.

“As the convenor, I have called an emergency meeting of the core committee and also a meeting of the party’s district committee on August 3,” Mondal added, indicating that he has regained his position in the run-up to the 2026 assembly polls.

The Central Bureau of Investigation arrested Mondal in August 2022, while his daughter, Sukanya Mondal, was arrested in April 2023 as an alleged accomplice in the cattle smuggling case. On September 10 last year, Anubrata Mondal was granted bail in the cattle smuggling case from a Delhi court.

CBI and the Enforcement Directorate are investigating more than 70 properties, land deals and businesses, including two rice mills linked to Mondal and his daughter, according to statements made by the agencies before courts in Bengal and Delhi since 2022.