Kolkata: In two incidents of alleged scams, two TMC heavyweight leaders on Friday skipped CBI summons.
TMC Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondal who had been quizzed earlier by CBI over the alleged cattle smuggling scam, on Friday citing ‘ill health’ skipped the quizzing on Friday.
According to Anirban Guha Thakurta, the lawyer of Mondal, he is ready to face the quizzing if it is done at his residence in Birbhum.
“We have submitted his health records with the CBI. Mondal's health is not well. We have not mentioned any time frame when he will be able to join the investigation. He is however willing to face questions if he is quizzed at his residence in Birbhum,” said Guha Thakurta.
It can be noted that the last time when he was quizzed, the CBI officials left Mondal after three and a half hours of quizzing after he complained of chest pain.
Mondal then from Nizam Palace visited SSKM-state government-run hospital and after routine checkup, he was released from the hospital. Mondal then after almost 42 days went back to his residence at Birbhum.
In another incident of alleged coal smuggling scam, TMC MLA Soukat Molla was summoned by CBI on Thursday and on Friday, his lawyer Subrata Sardar visited CBI office and said that due to ‘preoccupancy’ Molla had sought time of 15 days.
“Molla was summoned on Thursday. We immediately sent the agency an email. We have come today to physically handover the letter to the CBI. He is engaged with some administrative work. Several houses were damaged in the cyclones and he has to take care of them for which we have sought time for 15 days,” said Sardar.
TMC national secretary Abhishek Banerjee was also quizzed by Enforcement Directorate (ED) over the same scam.
According to CBI sources, a portion of the illegally mined coal was sent to several brick kilns across the state. The investigators are trying to find out if Anup Majee, prime accused in the illegal coal mining case, was in touch with a section of political leaders.
