Bengal post-poll violence: CBI grills two Trinamool MLAs close to Anubrata Mondal

The two ruling party MLAs who were grilled were Abhijit Sinha and Sekh Sahonawez from Labpur and Ketugram Assembly constituencies, respectively.

According to CBI sources, the two MLAs were expected to give critical clues on the extent of involvement of Mondal in the post-poll violence cases in Birbhum district, especially the one related to the murder of a local BJP worker soon after the results for the 2021 Assembly elections were announced.

"We are interrogating all those with whom Anubrata Mondal conversed on phone on the day of the murder. From the call-list of Mondal's mobile number on that day, we came across records of his conversation with these two MLAs. Hence we summoned them to seek details about that conversations," said a CBI official who did not wish to be named.

It is learnt that the CBI officials interrogated Sinha and Sahonawez separately.

Speaking to mediapersons after the interrogation, Sinha said it was natural of Mondal to speak with him as Mondal is the party's Birbhum district president.

On the other hand, Sahonawez said he answered all the questions that the CBI sleuths asked him and also assured the CBI officials of full cooperation in the investigation process.

"Yes, I called him (Mondal) on the day the Assembly election results were declared to inform him about my victory," Sahonawez said.

On June 2, Mondal was grilled by CBI officials for over four hours in connection with the agency's probe into post-poll violence cases.

A day before his interrogation, CBI officials also conducted search operations at the residence of Mondal's personal bodyguard, Sehgal Hossain, in Murshidabad district.

Besides the post-poll violence case, Mondal is also under the scanner of CBI in the agency's ongoing probe into the cattle and coal smuggling cases.

--IANS src/arm

( 341 Words)

2022-06-04-22:56:06 (IANS)