TMC leader Anubrata Mandal likely to appear before CBI on Wed

Kolkata, April 5 Trinamool Congress strongman and the party's district president of Birbhum in West Bengal, Anubrata Mandal alias Keshto, will in all probability finally appear for interrogation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths on Wednesday. Mandal left his residence at Bolpur in Birbhum district for Kolkata on Tuesday evening.

Although Mandal himself was not reachable for confirmation, his close associates told that he might do a night-stay somewhere in Kolkata on Tuesday and will appear at the CBI's Nizam Palace office in central Kolkata at 11 a.m. on Wednesday.

Earlier, the CBI had summoned Mandal five times for questioning in the central agency's ongoing probe into cattle and coal smuggling in West Bengal. However, each time, he ignored the summon on the pretext of physical ailment.

Mandal had even approached the bench of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha of the Calcutta High Court seeking a legal shield against arrest by the CBI. However, on March 11, the court refused to grant Mandal any relief on grounds that the court cannot intervene in the process of investigation by any probe agency. Later, Mandal approached a division bench of the Calcutta High Court, which also upheld the order of the single bench. The court observed that the accused person can approach for anticipatory bail against arrest.

On April 3, 2022 , quoting legal experts, said that with both the single and division benches of the Calcutta High Court having refused to give him a legal shield, Mandal was left with little legal option to avoid the CBI summons again. Legal experts told that though options were open to Mandal to approach the Supreme Court but there too the chances were bleak of getting any legal shield.

The Supreme Court a number of times has also observed that the court cannot interfere in the process of investigation by any probe agency.

Meanwhile, there is speculation in West Bengal over whether the CBI would also tag Mandal in the investigation into the deaths of eight people at Bogtui village in Birbhum district of West Bengal on March 21. Already serious differences have cropped up between Mandal and the Trinamool Congress legislator from the same district, Asish Banerjee over the massacre.