Arrested Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mondal is likely to undergo a medical examination on Monday before being taken to Delhi for interrogation into the multi-crore cattle smuggling scam, an official of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said.
The TMC Birbhum unit president is likely to be taken to ESI Hospital at Joka on the southern outskirts of Kolkata for the medical test, he said. "We have sent a letter to the authorities at the Durgapur Correctional Home (where Mondal is lodged) over the matter. We have informed them that the state police should accompany him to the hospital for the medical test," the ED official told PTI.
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The Calcutta High Court on Saturday directed that medical officers in a central government-run hospital in Kolkata will examine Mondal and issue a medical certificate on his health condition before he is handed over to the ED for transit. It also set aside Mondal's petition challenging a production warrant issued by a special CBI court and cleared the way for the ED to take him to Delhi for questioning.
The high court directed that a medical officer will accompany Mondal to Delhi, where he will be again examined by doctors upon his arrival. It was stated that the medical records be produced before the court in Delhi at the time of his production before it. A senior official of the Durgapur Correctional Home said the high court order has been sent to the Asansol-Durgapur Police Commissionerate asking the police to take Mondal to the Joka hospital.
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Sources at the prison said Mondal's visit was delayed after both the state police and the ED refused to take responsibility for his security during the journey. "We had written to the state police for security arrangements during Mondal's journey to Delhi on a transit remand. But they refused, stating it was not their duty," the ED official said.
The central agency would approach a special CBI court at Asansol seeking an order to the state police to take responsibility for Mondal's security during his journey to the national capital, he said. The TMC leader was arrested by the ED in November last year. He was taken into custody by the CBI in the cattle smuggling case in August.
His lawyer moved a petition claiming that the order, on the basis of which Mondal is sought to be shifted to Delhi, cannot be issued by the special CBI court at Asansol.
