Birbhum police on Friday filed a criminal case against Trinamool strongman and Mamata Banerjee favourite Anubrata Mondal for allegedly abusing a senior officer over the phone and issuing sex threats against his family, leaving the ruling party squirming and worried with barely a year left for elections.

“Our Bolpur IC (inspector-in-charge), Liton Halder, lodged a complaint against a local leader of Bolpur for abusing him over the phone two days ago (on Wednesday night),” Birbhum superintendent of police Amandeep said.

“We have registered a case and will take all possible legal action.”

Although Amandeep did not name the accused, another police officer said a notice had been served on Anubrata at the district Trinamool office. The notice asks him to appear before the investigating officer at Bolpur police station on Saturday.

Anubrata, a former Birbhum Trinamool chief known for his foul mouth, has repeatedly insulted police officers, Opposition leaders and even eminent people like the poet Shankha Ghosh. He was recently arrested by the CBI on corruption charges, too.

But the chief minister has treated her blue-eyed boy with kid gloves every time, publicly vowing to always “stand by him” and explaining his indiscretions away as a
result of health issues restricting oxygen supply to his “head”.

Police sources said the action taken against Anubrata this time owed to the threat of a near revolt among officers that could have hurt the ruling party with elections approaching next year.

A source said the case had been registered under BNS Sections 75 (sexual harassment), 132 (assaulting or using criminal force to deter a public servant from performing duty), 224 (threatening a public servant with injury to compel them to act), and 351 (criminal intimidation).

An audio clip, purportedly capturing Anubrata’s verbal attack on Halder, has been widely circulated on social media since Thursday night.

“Anubrata Mondal threatened a police officer and his family members in the most unacceptable language. If he is allowed to go unpunished, it will hurt the morale of the police department, which the chief minister herself heads (as home minister),” a senior IPS officer said.

Multiple sources in Trinamool echoed the IPS officer and said the language Anubrata had used had crossed all limits of acceptability. They said it warranted his immediate expulsion from the party and expressed their dismay at the leadership again dealing with him “rather softly”, demanding only an apology.

They wondered why Anubrata had been given a long rope again – asked to appear at the police station on Saturday instead of being “dragged” to the police station on Thursday or Wednesday night itself.

“Would an ordinary citizen have got similar leeway?” a senior Trinamool leader said in Calcutta. “Anubrata has hit a new low with this: No civilised person can listen to the full conversation.”

A police officer in Birbhum defended the decision to serve Anubrata with a notice and then interrogate him.

“The sections under which he has been booked allow the police to summon and interrogate the accused,” he said.

A Trinamool source said the repeated indulgence from the leadership had turned Anubrata into a “Frankenstein’s monster”.

“Had action been taken earlier, we wouldn’t be facing this today,” he said.

During the 2013 panchayat election campaign, Anubrata had egged his followers on to set fire to the homes of Independent candidates and bomb the police if they intervened. Although a public outcry forced the police to register a case, the offences invoked were minor ones and no action was taken.

Instead, the party rewarded Anubrata with greater political responsibility.

In 2018, Anubrata was again spared after publicly humiliating Shankha Ghosh. Reacting to one of his poems, he had said: “We’ve heard of Rabindranath Tagore and Nazrul Islam as poets. What kind of poet are you? You can’t see development.”

Beyond his hate speech, Anubrata has made other kinds of bad headlines. He was arrested by the CBI in connection with a cattle-smuggling racket and spent nearly two years in Delhi’s Tihar jail before receiving bail last September.

Mamata urged party workers to give Anubrata a hero’s welcome on his return from jail — a call the party faithfully heeded.

A decade ago in 2014, a day after Calcutta High Court had formed a special investigation team to probe a murder case in which Anubrata was an accused, Mamata had famously described him as a “good boy” and “able organiser”.

“…He is unwell. He has to travel with an oxygen cylinder. Not enough oxygen reaches his head (brain). Everyone is after him these days. He is being unnecessarily targeted. But I will always stand by him,” she said.

So, what prompted the police to act, although belatedly, on Friday?

A police source said that taking legal action had become necessary after the incident triggered discontent among officers, many of whom voiced their concern to higher authorities. For Trinamool, such unrest among the police ranks posed a serious threat ahead of next year’s Assembly elections.

“We conducted a primary probe and there was no option but to take legal action against Anubrata. Had the Trinamool leadership tried to shield him again, it would have become a near impossibility to contain the anger among the police,” a senior officer said.

Realising the potential political fallout, the party reportedly asked Anubrata to issue an unconditional apology within four hours and warned him of a show-cause notice if he didn’t.

Opposition parties and some Trinamool leaders argued that the party’s action was “too little, too late”.

“He should have been removed from the Birbhum core committee and disciplinary action initiated,” a Trinamool leader said.

“There had been a demand to reappoint him as district president after his return from jail. In hindsight, it was a good decision not to do so.”

He said party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee — who is abroad — would likely take firm action once he returned.

Following the party’s instructions, Anubrata issued an apology but initially alleged a conspiracy behind his comments becoming public. A source said he was asked to submit a revised apology without such claims, which he eventually did.

Opposition parties asked why Anubrata had not been arrested.

“While Mamata Banerjee was busy insulting Hindu women yesterday with her remarks about vermilion, her most beloved Kesto — Anubrata Mondal — was using obscene language to insult the mother and sister of a policeman,” state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar wrote on his X handle.

“This clearly shows how the Trinamool Congress truly views women! The public notice is mere drama to cover up the misdeeds of their ‘respected’ leader. Anubrata Mondal must be arrested within24 hours.”

CPM leader Shamik Lahiri said Anubrata was only “echoing the act of his supreme leader” by stooping so low.

“Mamata Banerjee had once threatened to slap a police officer, and now her protégé has abused a police officer. Though the police have lodged a case, we believe there will be no action. We demand his immediate arrest,”Lahiri said.