Cong’s Mokhtar was framed by Trinamool, say aides

Six jeeploads of policemen zoomed into a narrow lane from Iron Gate Road leading to one of the houses of Iqbal Ahmed, Trinamool Congress councillor and chairman of borough 15, this evening, ringing alarm bells for this don of the area. Few could believe that police could raid Iqbal alias Munna's house. But they did.

This at a time when a change of guard was under way at Lalbazar and tension prevailed at Writers' Buildings.

While officials of Garden Reach police station prepared an elaborate plan to arrest the two main accused in the violence of February 12 — Munna of Trinamool and Mokhtar of Congress —- Mokhtar spoke exclusively to The Indian Express about how and why he was framed.

This correspondent was taken through the bylanes of Deewan Bagan area in Metiabruz to the bright yellow building where Mokhtar resides. Outside the grilled gate, half covered with a thick iron plate, Mokhtar said, "I did not want to intervene during the nomination form distribution process that day. We decided to go there only after we were told that the TMCCP boys, along with some local antisocial elements, were beating up the Chhatra Parishad (CP) boys. We were on our way to Harimohan Ghosh College when officials of Garden Reach PS stopped us in front of a government school and asked us to stay away from the college. And we returned from there. This took hardly 15 minutes."

Asked if they were carrying arms, as it was reported, Tabrez Alam, who is a close friend of Mokhtar and state INTUC secretary and general secretary of Garden Reach block Congress, said, "If we were, then wouldn't we have fired at them? It later turned out to be a group clash of TMC and they, unable to explain it, are putting the blame on Mokhtar."

... contd.

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