Kolkata, May 28 (IANS) Dilip Mondal, the Trinamool Congress legislator from the Bishnupur (SC) Assembly constituency in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, who was first detained and later arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) of West Bengal Police from a hotel in neighbouring Odisha’s Puri on Wednesday, was remanded to 10 days of police custody by a lower court in Kolkata on Thursday.
After being detained and subsequently arrested from the hotel in Puri, Mondal was brought to Kolkata on transit remand by STF sleuths and produced before a lower court in the city on Thursday.
During the hearing, public prosecutor Sourin Ghoshal sought police custody for Mondal, who had allegedly been absconding for a prolonged period after multiple FIRs were registered against him on various charges, particularly those related to alleged voter intimidation during the recently concluded West Bengal Assembly elections.
In his arguments, the public prosecutor claimed that despite several complaints of corruption, extortion and creating an atmosphere of terror in his locality, Mondal managed to evade arrest because of his association with the previous ruling dispensation in West Bengal.
In the different FIRs registered against Mondal, police invoked charges under 11 non-bailable sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.
Recently, a video purportedly showing Mondal went viral on social media, although IANS could not independently verify its authenticity.
It was alleged that Mondal threatened workers and supporters of another political party in the video. A complaint was subsequently lodged against the MLA at a local police station over the incident.
Based on the allegations of intimidation, police registered a case under non-bailable sections and initiated an investigation.
As part of the investigation, a raid was conducted on May 14 at the MLA’s palatial residence in Pailan in South 24 Parganas district. However, he was not present there at the time.
According to local sources, Mondal fled his residence after receiving information about the police raid.
Since then, he had allegedly been in hiding and police launched search operations at multiple locations. However, his whereabouts remained unknown.
According to police sources, the STF recently received information that Mondal was staying at a hotel in Puri.
Acting on the tip-off, STF personnel along with Diamond Harbour Police reached the hotel in Puri and confirmed Mondal’s presence after checking the hotel register.
–IANS
src/pgh