Kolkata: Superintendent of Bolpur Sub-Divisional Hospital Dr Buddhadeb Murmu, charged with sending a subordinate doctor to Trinamool Congress strongman Anubrata Mondal's residence a day before his arrest by CBI on Thursday, has now pointed fingers at an influential ruling party MLA from Birbhum district.
On Saturday morning, Murmu claimed that he had to send his subordinate doctor in the hospital Dr Chandranath Adhikari to Mondal's residence following a direction from Trinamool Congress legislator from Suri Assembly constituency in Birbhum district, Bikash Roy Chowdhury. An extremely close confidant of the Mondal, Roy Chowdhury is also the president of Trinamool Congress-controlled Birbhum Zilla Parishad.
"I received a call on my mobile from Roy Chowdhury on Wednesday when he told me that since Mondal is sick I should send a doctor to his residence. Mondal is a VIP in the district who is even entitled to 'Z' category security from the state government. So, I asked Chandranath Adhikari, who was not on duty then to pay a visit to Mondal's residence," Murmu told newspersons.
He came forward with a bizarre explanation on being asked as to why he instructed Chandranath Adhikari, to issue medical advice for 14-day bed rest for Mondal on a white paper. "I just asked Adhikari not to use the official letterhead for using any prescription since he was acting on a verbal order. But I never directed him on any medical advice. He gave the advice according to what he felt as a doctor," Murmu said.
However, when contacted, Roy Chowdhury denied having directed Dr Murmu to send a subordinate doctor to Mondal's residence. "I received a call from Mondal's residence that he has certainly fallen sick and is suffering from his fistula pain. I just called up Dr Murmu and informed him about the crisis. But I did not direct him anything," Roy Chowdhury said.
Opposition leaders have claimed that Adhikari, Murmu, and Roy Chowdhury are just lower rungs in the chain of instructions and actual instruction came from the state health department headquarters at Swasthya Bhawan at Salt Lake on the northern outskirts of Kolkata.
CBI has already recorded the statement of Adhikari on the sequence of events on the day he went to Mondal's residence and issued the bed rest medical advice in plain paper. Sources said that central agency sleuths will also question Murmu and record his statements as well.
—IANS