Kolkata: Starting April 6, there have been several dramatic turns on the issue of the questioning of Trinamool Congress strongman, Anubrata Mondal by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths probing the cattle and coal smuggling scams in the state.
Mondal has not only avoided seven summons from the CBI for appearance for interrogation, but has also set conditions for facing the central probe agency sleuths. Citing medical grounds and using a prescription of the medical board of state-run SSKM Medical College and Hospital as a shield, Mondal has informed the CBI that he will not be able to appear for questioning before May 21, 2022.
The Birbhum district president of the Trinamool Congress has also communicated to the CBI that the place of questioning will be decided through mutual discussions.
IANS talked to some legal experts and retired police officers on these issues. All of them expressed surprise over why the CBI is giving such a long rope to Anubrata Mondal instead of acting promptly to interrogate him.
IANS first talked to senior advocate of the Supreme Court and the Calcutta High Court, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya. According to him, it seems that the CBI is acting helpless in front of the prescription and the medical reports presented by Mondal.
“The medical reports can never be a barrier for the CBI in taking Mondal into custody and questioning him. After the arrest the CBI can get him medically examined by another medical board. If he is found having ailments, then the CBI will arrange for his treatment under the agency’s surveillance. There are lots of legal options for the CBI to act against Anubrata Mondal after he has ignored so many summons. But since the CBI is not acting even after that there are reasons to doubt how serious the agency is about questioning him,” he said.
Senior criminal lawyer of the Calcutta High Court, Kaushik Gupta agreed with Bhattacharya that the medical reports submitted by Mondal cannot legally stop the CBI sleuths from taking him into their custody and questioning him. However, he added that there can be yet another reason behind the CBI giving him a long rope.
“There is a possibility that the CBI is yet to get enough concrete proof against Mondal to retain him in its custody for a long period. Hence there is a possibility that Mondal approaches the court after being taken to custody and the court grants him bail because of absence of concrete evidence. Probably that is why the CBI has summoned him just as a witness in the cattle smuggling case,” Gupta pointed out.
Former additional director general of the West Bengal police, Nazrul Islam told IANS that from the approach of the CBI in this case, it is clear that some kind of political understanding at some levels is prompting the central agency to give a long rope to Mondal.
“Agreed that now CBI has summoned Mondal just as a witness in the cattle smuggling case. But since he has avoided seven summons it is clear that he has something major to conceal, which might come out in the course of interrogation. Now my question is why is the CBI not approaching the court and try to get an order from the court making it compulsory for Mondal to appear for interrogation,’ Islam said.
Regarding the medical reports submitted by Mondal, Islam said, if the CBI has doubts about the authenticity of the medical reports, the central agency can challenge those reports in the court and try to get an order from the court that Mondal be medically tested somewhere else like the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi or the Command Hospital in Kolkata. The CBI has already forwarded Mondal’s medical reports to AIIMS, New Delhi for examination.
Meanwhile, understanding that the high drama over the issue is becoming a matter of controversy, a section of leaders within the Trinamool Congress have started raising subtle questions in the matter.
First it was the party’s state general secretary, Kunal Ghosh who took subtle jibes as he said that he himself and even the party’s national general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee had never avoided summons from any probe agency.
Recently, when West Bengal finance minister Chandrima Bhattacharya was asked by newspersons about the same issue, she avoided answering and claimed that it is a legal matter between Anubrata Mondal and the CBI.
(IANS)
