KOLKATA: Ten years behind bars and found not guilty. Prasun Chattopadhyay, one of Bengal’s first three accused who were booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, had walked out of Dum Dum jail with his honour intact after the Kolkata High Court acquitted him of all the grave charges slapped by the erstwhile Left Front government.
Chattopadhyay, who was sentenced with life imprisonment by a lower court, noticed Kolkata’s massive changes from the Left Front regime to the present era of the Trinamool Congress. "While returning home along the EM Bypass, I saw the City of Joy change — right from well-illuminated roads by mercury lights to huge hoardings displaying CM Mamata Banerjee’s photos and her government’s projects," said Chattopadhyay, sitting in his study room at Garia in south Kolkata, from where he was arrested on October 5, 2009.
Chattopadhyay claimed he felt the rise of saffron camp in Bengal on his way to a Midnapore court from a Purulia Jail. “I had to travel for more than a 200 km stretch. I spotted numerous Hanuman temples coming up on both sides of the road in the Junglemahal. After I spoke with my jail inmates, who were from remote pockets, I became sure that the Trinamool was going to suffer a massive setback in the region.’’
The decade has gone by not only snatched Chattopadhyay’s freedom but also took his dream away. “A few months before being arrested, I met a teacher. We were trying to know each other before we could tie the knot. Later, I heard she left Kolkata and got married,’’ he said.