Cong’s Mokhtar was framed by Trinamool, say aides

Another close associate of Mokhtar said that he (Mokhtar) was framed his daughter was married to Trinamool leader Shamsuzzaman Ansari's son Imran Ansari. Shamsuzzaman is also the MMIC (Information and Public Relations), KMC. "Since Ansari particularly did not approve of this marriage, he was looking to get even with Mokhtar. He tried to put a stumbling block in the way of Mokhtar's growing popularity," he said.

Ansari, however, brushed aside the allegation. He told The Indian Express, "It doesn't matter who is who and if Mokhtar is my relative. My party is TMC and whatever my party orders me to do, I will abide by it. But in this case, I have nothing to do with the allegations on Mokhtar. If he is associated with illegal activities, he should be punished accordingly."

Officers of the detective department together with Garden Reach PS officials were ready to conduct raids to arrest Iqbal and Mokhtar. Both were "underground" at the moment.

"They along with their associates are not reachable in the locality. We anticipate that we will be asked to net them soon, so we are putting our resources together. We also have information that Iqbal could surrender tomorrow morning," said an officer.

Asked if he would surrender if a warrant is issued, Mokhtar said it would depend on his party. "I am in touch with my party president Pradip Bhattacharya. If he asks me to surrender, I will," he said.

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