Anubrata Mondal, the Birbhum district president of the Trinamul Congress, didn’t appear before the CBI on Friday in connection with alleged murder of BJP worker Gaurab Sarkar after the publication of Assembly poll results in May last year.

As Mondal did not show up citing illness, CBI officials said they would summon him for the second time next month. The date will be decided by senior officers at the headquarters in Delhi, said a source.

“In the course of the investigation into the death of Sarkar, several names and links have surfaced. We want to talk to Mondal in this connection and his statements will be very crucial for this particular case,” said a CBI official.

The central investigating agency has been probing into cases of post-poll violence in Bengal following an order from Calcutta High Court. Four separate teams have been investigating cases throughout Bengal under the leadership of officers of the rank of superintendent of police. One of the teams at Birbhum has been investigating the death of Sarkar.

Sarkar was allegedly murdered on May 2 when results of the Assembly polls were declared in Bengal and victory rallies were taken out across the Birbhum district. In Illambazar, some Trinamul supporters who were in a victory rally had allegedly attacked Sarkar and beat him up severely. He died on the spot.

During the course of the investigation, the CBI made a few arrests, including that of Dilip Mirdha from Hooghly. A section of officials said Mondal was likely to be summoned by mid-February again when he would be questioned about the victory rally in Illambazar and Sarkar’s alleged murder.

This is not the first time that the CBI has summoned Mondal. On April 27 last year, two days prior to the Assembly polls in Birbhum, the agency had summoned him. Officials said they wanted to question Mondal and one of his aides in connection with the agency’s probe into alleged case of cattle-smuggling across the international border with Bangladesh.

Mondal did not turn up saying the number of Covid cases was on the rise and he had comorbidities.