Anubrata Mondal hospitalised, escapes CBI grilling again

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress strongman and the party's Birbhum district president, Anubrata Mondal, got hospitalised at the state-run SSKM Medical College & Hospital for treatment on Wednesday, thereby again escaping grilling by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with a coal and cattle smuggling case.

Mondal was supposed to reach the CBI office at Nizam Palace here at around 11 am. He started from his residence at Chinar Park in Kolkata on Wednesday morning, but instead of reaching the CBI office, he went straight to the SSKM, complaining of chest and stomach problems.

He was examined at the hospital by a team of doctors and finally at around 2 pm, he was admitted to the Woodburn Ward of SSKM, which is meant for VVIPs.

Immediately after his hospitalisation, Mondal's counsel reached the CBI office and handed over a letter signed by the Trinamool leader, where the latter expressed his inability to appear before the agency sleuths for interrogation owing to his physical condition, despite his "sincere wish" to cooperate with the CBI.

Mondal's counsel, Anirban Guha Thakurta, told mediapersons that his client is been suffering from multiple ailments for some time now.

"The constant CBI summons had put additional mental pressure on him. He had to be hospitalised on Wednesday and hence he could not appear before the CBI. We have informed the probe agency on this count," he said.

Commenting on the development, BJP's state unit chief Sukanta Majumdar said that he had a hynch since the morning that Mondal will reach the hospital instead of the CBI office.

"But how long will he be able to avoid facing the central probe agency," Majumdar asked.

Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said: "Since it is a legal matter, I would not like to comment on it. But I can say that previously I had been summoned several times by different agencies, such as the state police, CBI, ED and the Serious Fraud Investigation Office.

"I have never refrained from appearing before the agencies... In fact, I reached the agency office at least five minutes before the scheduled time. Even our party's national general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee, has avoided appearing before the agencies for questioning."