With the Enforcement Directorate’s efforts to take the Trinamul Congress heavyweight and Birbhum strongman  Anubrata Mondal to Delhi for interrogation by getting him in its custody ran into legal tangles today, Opposition parties were up in arms against the ruling party’s alleged machinations to block Mondal’s Delhi trip.

Anubrata Mondal was on Tuesday remanded to seven days police custody by a Dubrajpur court after being arrested by Dubrajpur police in connection with an attempt to murder charge filed against him by a Trinamul Congress activist only yesterday, The Opposition BJP, CPIM and Congress launched an offensive against the ruling party over its “efforts” to throw a spanner into the ED’s move to take Mr Mondal to Delhi for questioning under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) relating to the cattle smuggling scam.

Sujan Chakraborty, the CPI-M central committee member demanded a just punishment for Mr Mondal, who had several cases pending against him, including in the cattle smuggling scam and charges of hate speeches. Ridiculing Trinamul leader Firhad Hakim’s likening Mr Mondal to a caged tiger, the CPI-M leader said: “The tiger should either be in a cage or in the jungle but here it is the opposite. The ruling party is trying to glorify him as the chief minister had asked her party leaders to venerate him as a soldier after his release from the jail.

Firhad Hakim likened him to a tiger who was caged despite many acts committed by him that are tantamount to hate speeches and charges of corruption ranging from cattle smuggling, looting of public money and above all asking his supporters to hurl bombs on police in the 2018 panchayat polls. We demand his punishment.” Rahul Sinha, senior BJP leader, said that by framing him in a case allegedly committed in 2021 but the complaint only lodged yesterday, the day ED was all set to take him to Delhi, it only betrays the fact the Trinamul Congress could stoop to such a low.

“But their efforts would prove to be abortive,” he said. Kaustav Bagchi, a member of the Congress’ legal cell and a lawyer, ridiculed the TMC’s move to block Mr Mondal’s shifting to Delhi, pointing out that by doing this the party was only inviting bigger trouble for Mandol because it would only bolster his credentials as being “highly influential” as the central probe agencies were har ping on from to time in court to deny his bail applications.