After Partha Chatterjee, another Trinamool Congress heavyweight leader, Anubrata Mondal, is also likely to face the same fate, as the party, according to sources, is unlikely to back him any further to evade questioning or a possible arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Mondal, who is currently being investigated by the premier investigating agency for his alleged role in cattle smuggling from India into Bangladesh, had skipped his summon to appear before the CBI on Monday, citing poor health.
However, on reaching the SSKM hospital on Monday afternoon, where he was supposed to get his treatment and a possible admission into the hospital, things did not turn out according to his plan. The SSKM hospital, which is run by the state government, denied him admission into the hospital, citing that there was no ‘deterioration’ in the health of Anubrata Mondal and therefore he required no admission.
Sources from the SSKM hospital that spoke to The Daily Guardian said that the complaints with which Anubrata Mondal came to the hospital were his “chronic” problems and there were no new complaints by him. Therefore, the medical board, after checking all his vital parameters, refused him admission to the hospital.
“Mondal is suffering from chronic cough, neck and back pain, which is not a serious issue. He has been taking medications for the same. A team of doctors did a thorough medical check up and all his parameters were found to be normal. He has been taking prescribed medicines and has further been asked to continue with the same medicines. “ A senior official from the SSKM hospital told this correspondent.
The SSKM hospital, which received the intimation last evening about Mondal’s arrival on Monday, had formed a seven-member medical board consisting of doctors from the department of chest medicine, cardiology, surgery, endocrinology and general medicine to check on his health.
It is pertinent to mention here that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee holds the charge of the health department of West Bengal.
Anubrata Mondal, the Birbhum district president of the TMC, is one of the most powerful and a strong muscle man of the TMC. Mondal is also believed to be close to Mamata Banerjee, and it is under Mondal’s presidentship of the Birbhum district that the TMC had grown powerful in the area and had delivered favourable electoral results for the party year after year.
Mondal’s name surfaced in the cattle and coal smuggling cases in Bengal, which the CBI is investigating. However, Mondal has skipped multiple summons by the CBI till date, citing poor health, and each time a CBI summon reached Mondal’s door, he made his way to the SSKM hospital and got himself admitted. However, this time the story was different.
Despite being denied an admission, Mondal failed to reach the CBI headquarters located at the Nizam Palace in Bengal, but instead left for this home in Birbhum on Monday evening.
Mondal was summoned by the CBI on Monday after multiple places in Bengal, including the houses of his close aide in his home turf of Birbhum was raided by the CBI earlier last week, in connection with the cattle smuggling cases. Earlier, Mondal’s security guard and his close aides were also questioned by the CBI.