Mondal met state home secretary Basudeb Banerjee and some officers in the chief minister's secretariat to thank them as they had taken the initiative to coordinate with the Mizoram government and the Centre to arrange his release. The matter was routed through the ministry of external affairs and the Bangladesh government was also involved in his release.
The 23-year old Bankura resident had gone to Mizoram to set up a mobile tower in Mammit district from where he was abducted on November 23, 2013. He narrated how he and his driver were taken to the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Mondal was accompanied by his father Nikhil Mondal, who urged the home secretary to provide his son with a job, as they would not allow him to go to the northeast on work again. Mondal narrated how his abductors tortured him in the jungles and he had to feed even on insects.
However, his cousin Arnab Mondal said whenever he used to mediate with the abductors over telephone, they sounded quite polite. He said initially the abductors had demanded Rs 5crore and then, they came down to Rs 1crore and further reduced the ransom to Rs 25 lakh. Arnab quickly added that the family did not pay any ransom. It could be that the company where Mondal worked had paid some money, but said he was not sure of it. "But would they have released him without any ransom?" he wondered.
Deep will be felicitated by villagers at Indas this weekend. They had blocked traffic several times in Bankura to press for his release.