Anubrata Mondal, the Trinamool Congress leader who has of late switched his allegiance to the rebel Ritabrata Banerjee camp, was granted anticipatory bail by the Calcutta High Court in the brick kiln corruption case on Monday.
Mondal, popularly known as “Kesto”, was accused of looting a brick kiln in Birbhum district of Bengal. He had approached the Calcutta High Court challenging the lower court’s order which had earlier rejected his anticipatory bail plea.
Mondal’s counsel informed Calcutta High Court Justice Tirthankar Ghosh on Monday that one of the accused in the case has already been granted bail.
The case originated when a businessman named Suvendu Bikash Mondal filed a written complaint with the Santiniketan police station against 13 people including Anubrata Mondal. He mentioned in his complaint that bricks worth about Rs 30 lakh were looted from a brick kiln at gunpoint, soon after the 2021 election results were announced.
The businessman alleged that the incident took place on the orders of the then Trinamool president of Birbhum prompting him to flee the spot in fear of his life.
Based on the complaint, the Santiniketan police station started an investigation into the incident.
Though Anubrata Mondal applied for anticipatory bail in the Suri District Court of Birbhum, the lower court rejected his plea. Following this, Mondal approached the Calcutta High Court seeking anticipatory bail on July 1.