Kolkata, March 6,2023:  Confusion over the issue of providing security escort to Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mondal first from Asansol to Kolkata and then from Kolkata to New Delhi in connection with the multi-crore cattle smuggling scam in West Bengal finally got over on Monday afternoon after a special court clearly divided the escorting responsibility between the state police and Enforcement Directorate (ED) on this count.

The judge of the special court of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) at Asansol Rajesh Chakraborty ruled that the Asansol Central Correctional Home, where Mondal is housed now, along with the Asansol-Durgapur Police Commissionerate will first take the responsibility to escort the Trinamool Congress heavyweight from the correctional home to a designated central hospital in Kolkata for his medical examination.

After he is admitted to the hospital in Kolkata and after securing the travel related fit-certificate for him, as ruled by the judge of the special court, he will be handed over to the ED. After that handover, affairs related to Mondal’s movement from Kolkata to New Delhi will rest on the ED, who will be responsible for arranging the security escorts for him from Kolkata to the national capital.

Although the judge of the special court of CBI did not specify the date by when Mondal had to be shifted to New Delhi, he emphasized on completing the process at the earliest as per the earlier order of the Calcutta High Court.

Throughout Sunday confusion over providing escort to Mondal prevailed after the correctional home authorities informed the ED that Asansol-Durgapur Police Commiserate was not willing to take the responsibility of providing escort to Mondal.

The ED, on its part, argued that the responsibility of providing escort in such cases lies with the state police as was done in case of Mondal’s bodyguard Sehgal Hossain when he was taken to New Delhi from Asansol last year.

On Monday, however, the commissionerate authorities denied charges of their refusal to provide escort, and said that in the first application from the correctional home authorities the latter did not make the purpose clear for which the security escorts were sought.