Senior Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mondal on Monday skipped summons issued by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the cattle smuggling scam. The CBI has summoned the Trinamool Birbhum district president to appear before its office in Kolkata. The Trinamool Congress leader has sent an email informing that he will not be able to present before the agency on August 8.
Mr. Mondal, during the day, however, went to the State-run SSKM Hospital in Kolkata for treatment. A team of doctors examined him, but categorically said that there was no need for his admission to the super-specialty facility.
In the past, Mr. Mondal was admitted to the SSKM Hospital when the CBI had issued summons to him. After being denied admission to the hospital, Mr. Mondal returned to his residence in Birbhum district.
There were unusual scenes at the hospital at the Hospital, when some people shouted at the TMC leader calling him a “cattle thief’. The Trinamool leader was quizzed by the CBI in May this year after skipping several summons by the agency.
The summons to Anubrata Mondal by the CBI comes close to the heels of the arrest of former Trinamool Congress heavyweight Partha Chatterjee by the Enforcement Directorate in the School Service Commission recruitment scam.
Supplementary chargesheet
In a related development, the CBI on Monday filed a supplementary charge sheet in the cattle smuggling scam. The charge sheet filed before a court in Asansol in West Bengal named Saigal Hossain, the security officer of Anubrata Mondal, as one of the accused in the cattle smuggling scam. According to the CBI, Mr. Hossain has property worth ₹4 crore. Recently, the CBI has arrested Mr. Hossain in connection with the scam. Another person named in the chargesheet is former Trinamool leader Bikash Mishra. The CBI chargesheets filed earlier in the case have named a former commandant of Border Security Force Satish Kumar, businessman Emanul Haque as accused. The scam involves smuggling of cattle through India- Bangladesh border through the cattle haats located in Birbhum district.