Kolkata, April 25 Trinamool Congress strongman Anubrata Mondal has set some conditions to appear for questioning by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the twin cases of cattle and coal smuggling and post-poll violence in West bengal.
At 5.30 p.m. on Monday, a letter from Mondal reached the offices of the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) and the Special Crime Branch (SCB) of CBI, wherein Mondal, the Trinamool district president for Birbhum, gave two conditions relating to the time and place of his appearance for central agency interrogation.
In the letter, Mondal said that he will be able to appear before the CBI sleuths only after May 21. As regards the place of integration, Mondal insisted that it would be decided only after mutual discussions.
A CBI official, who did not wish to be named, said the agency has forwarded the letter to the higher officials at the CBI Directorate in Delhi as well as to the agency's legal team.
"The matter is being discussed and we will shortly decide our next course of action," he said.
The fact that Mondal will not appear before the CBI for interrogation so easily became evident from a statement made by his counsel, Sanjib Daw, earlier in the day.
"My client has become extremely week and ill again and hence he had to go through a fresh round of medical advice," Daw said.
Mondal has avoided seven summons from the central probe agency, six of which were pertaining to the cattle and coal smuggling cases and one relating to post-poll violence in the state.
On April 6, he got admitted to the state-run SSKM Medical College & Hospital, where he spent 17 days before being discharged on April 22.
In the last two days, he received two summons from the CBI, but he avoided both on health ground, citing the prescription of the medical board of SSKM advising him four-week bed rest.
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