Trinamool MLA Saokat Molla ignores CBI summons

Kolkata, May 27

Two-time Trinamool Congress legislator Saokat Molla on Friday ignored CBI's notice for interrogation in connection with the coal smuggling cases in West Bengal.

Molla, the Trinamool Congress MLA from Canning (East) Assembly constituency in South 24 Parganas district in West Bengal, was asked to be present at CBI's Nizam Palace office in Central Kolkata at 11 a.m on Friday.

However, at the last moment, his counsels sent an email communique to the CBI informing the latter about their client inability to appear for interrogation. Molla had also sought 15 days of time to appear for grilling.

Confirming the receipt of the email communique of Molla, a senior CBI official, who did not wish to be named, said that they have forwarded the communique to their higher officials at CBI Directorate in New Delhi immediately. "Now whether Molla would be given the time span of 15 days or not will be decided by our higher officials," he said.

Many recall the similar incident how Trinamool Congress leader and party's Birbhum district president Anubrata Mandal avoided CBI summons one after another pertaining to cattle and cola smuggling cases in the state.

After ignoring seven summons, Anubrata Mandal finally made a maiden appearance at the CBI office integration on May 19. However, after that he went back to Birbhum and started avoiding central agency summons again on medical grounds.

Incidentally, Mandal was also supposed to be present at the CBI's Nizam Police office on Friday. However, as usual, he had communicated his inability to appear.

As reported by IANS on Thursday, although the coal-belt of Asansol in West Burdwan district of the state was base of the coal smuggling rackets, the investigating sleuths have recently identified several points where the smuggled coal were sent to different points in different pockets in the state.

It was also reported that Jeebantala area under Molla's constituency, Canning (East) houses several brick kilns that require huge amounts of coal at cheaper rates to successfully run their shows. CBI sleuths have come to information many such brick kilns in Canning (East) which had been getting regular supply of smuggled coal.

Molla is a two-time Trinamool Congress MLA from Canning (East) Assembly constituency in South 24 Parganas district in West Bengal since 2016. Before the change of guards in West Bengal in 2011, Molla was an active member of erstwhile ruling party CPI(M) and was also considered as the right- hand man of erstwhile West Bengal land & land reforms minister, Abdur Rezzak Molla in the previous Left Front regime.

However, after 2011, Saokat Molla shifted to Trinamool Congress and became an MLA from Canning East for the first time in 2016. He was re-elected from the same constituency in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly polls.