Kolkata, May 29 (IANS): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has issued summons for interrogation to Trinamool Congress MLA Saokat Molla in connection with the coal smuggling scam in West Bengal.

Molla is an MLA from the Canning-Purba Assembly constituency in South Parganas district.

Sources said the summons was sent to Molla on Tuesday night and was asked to be present at CBI’s Nizam Palace in central Kolkata on Wednesday afternoon only.

However, Mollah has already communicated to the Central agency about his inability to be present for interrogation because of his preoccupation with the ongoing Lok Sabha polls in the state.

Sources said that Mollah’s name surfaced in the course of interrogation of some persons in connection with the coal smuggling case. This is not the first time that Molla has been summoned or questioned by CBI officials in connection with the case.

In July of 2022, he appeared at the CBI office and was questioned for over eight hours. He was questioned then based on CBI findings that coal smuggled from Asansol in the West Burdwan district was supplied at cheap rates to the mushrooming brick kilns at Canning-Purba where Molla is the legislator.

The CBI officials had been investigating the role of Molla in this entire matter. The Trinamool Congress legislator had since the beginning denied allegations raised against him since the beginning.