CBI asks Kolkata police to comply with court order on Bengal minister

A day after the Calcutta High Court directed that West Bengal minister and Saradha scam accused Madan Mitra be kept in house confinement under police watch, the CBI on Friday asked the city police to take adequate measures to comply with the judicial order.

A Central Bureau of Investigation source said a letter has been sent to the city police on the issue.

Mitra, who holds the transport and sports portfolios, is an accused in the multi-billion rupee chit fund scandal.

A vacation division bench of the high court had on Thursday directed that he would be kept in house confinement till a CBI prayer for cancellation of his bail was decided, by the judiciary.

However, Mitra's house confinement in his south Kolkata residence at Bhowanipore would start once he was released from hospital, where he is now under treatment.

The judges barred the minister from leaving his house, save for medical emergency or when the CBI needed him in connection with its ongoing investigation into the scam.

Indicted by the agency of cheating, conspiracy and criminal breach of trust in the multi-crore-rupee scam, Mitr, was granted bail by a lower court on Saturday, nearly 11 months after his arrest on December 12 last.

Mitra, who was under treatment in the state-run SSKM hospital where he had spent most of his incarceration period, left for home on Sunday after a medical board gave him a fit certificate.

On Tuesday, the CBI moved the Calcutta High Court seeking cancellation of the bail, and around the same time Mitra was admitted to a private hospital in the city.

A five member medical board has been constituted to look after the minister who has been admitted with complaints of chest pain, mild breathlessness and erratic sleep pattern, the hospital said in a statement.

According to jail authorities, Mitra spent less than 50 days in the prison since he was sent to judicial custody on December 19.