CBI sleuth visits hospital, enquires about condition of TMC's Anubrata

After he was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday, the TMC Birbhum district president sought four weeks time from the agency to face questioning, but also said its sleuths can visit him in the medical establishment for the purpose, subject to clearance by doctors.According to a well-placed source in the hospital, Mondals health condition has improved slightly though he would continue to be on oxygen support.Mondal is better but the chest pain is still there as well as the palpitation.

A day after Senior Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mondal failed to appear before the CBI to face questioning in connection with a cattle smuggling case as he was admitted to a hospital following “chest pain”, a sleuth of the agency visited the facility to enquire about his health condition on Thursday During the visit, the CBI official spoke to the authorities of the state-run SSKM Hospital to know if Mondal would be able to take questions from detectives during his stay there. After he was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday, the TMC Birbhum district president sought four weeks’ time from the agency to face questioning, but also said its sleuths can visit him in the medical establishment for the purpose, subject to clearance by doctors.

According to a well-placed source in the hospital, Mondal's health condition has improved slightly though he would continue to be on oxygen support.

''Mondal is better but the chest pain is still there as well as the palpitation. The oxygen level in his blood is still not adequate,'' the official said.

Mondal, who was asked to appear before the central agency in its Kolkata office at 11 am on Wednesday, went to the SSKM Hospital around the same time. The TMC Birbhum district president underwent a series of medical examinations before he was admitted there.

This is the fifth time the heavyweight TMC leader has skipped meeting CBI officers citing health problems.

This time, the agency had summoned Mondal after a division bench of the Calcutta High Court upheld a single bench order which refused ed to grant him protection from arrest in the cattle smuggling case. A CBI source said the agency is likely to move court seeking to know how to proceed with the investigation into the case if Mondal cites health-related issues every time he is summoned by the agency. In a letter to the CBI, he had said “considering the paramount interest of the investigation”, he had decided to present himself before the CBI but his health condition deteriorated all of a sudden on Wednesday morning.

“I started to suffer from sudden numbness coupled with a feeling of fullness in the centre of the chest, shortness of breath, cold sweat and lightheadedness for which I have been rushed to SSKM Hospital where doctors advised immediate hospitalisation,” the letter read.