The SSKM Hospital authorities on Thursday denied permission to the Enforcement Directorate to collect voice samples of Sujay Krishna Bhadra, who is in custody in connection with alleged irregularities in school recruitments.
The ED wants to collect voice samples of Bhadra, who is now at SSKM for treatment of post-surgery complications, to find out whether they match with the recorded samples.
A team of ED officers, which went to the government hospital on Thursday afternoon, was told that even though Bhadra, also known as Kalighat-er Kaku, has been shifted from the intensive care unit to a cabin in the cardiology ward, he was not yet medically fit to undergo the procedure required to collect his voice samples, sources in the agency said.
The ED had on June 2 arrested Bhadra for his alleged involvement in a case
related to irregularities in recruitments in government-aided schools and is
now in judicial custody.
Around two months after his arrest, Bhadra, a former director of Leaps and Bounds Private Limited who reportedly referred to Trinamul Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee as his “boss”, underwent a heart operation at a private hospital in August for “arterial blockage.”
Within a day of the operation, Bhadra was shifted from the private hospital and has since remained admitted at SSKM Hospital for treatment for “post-operative complications”.
A few days back, a team of ED officers had visited SSKM Hospital to find out about Bhadra’s health.
The Enforcement Directorate team that went to SSKM on Thursday called on the hospital’s superintendent before visiting the cardiology ward, where Bhadra is undergoing treatment, officers in the agency said.
The team waited for around four hours and returned after being told that the patient was not ready to undergo the stress that would result from the collection of his voice sample, the officer said.
“The patient was shifted out of the ICU only recently. Even though a team of doctors have said his condition is stable, he is not in a position to undergo the stress associated with the collection of voice samples,” a senior doctor at SSKM said.
Senior ED officers said they have submitted in court a purported voice sample of Bhadra in which he is heard directing someone to destroy evidence in connection with the case.
“It is therefore crucial to get Bhadra’s voice sample and run a check to find out whether it matches the recorded one,” an officer said.
Doctors said a voice sample is recorded in a sound-proof glass room in the presence of a forensic expert.
“On Wednesday, we had asked the hospital authorities to make necessary arrangements for the test,” said a senior ED officer.
With the permission denied, officers said they would wait for the nod from SSKM doctors to return and record voice samples of the patient.