The second letter was marked to CBI director Ranjit Sinha. Kunal, now in Presidency jail, has been on 24x7 watch ever since his suicide bid on November 14 and this is stretching its scant resources to the brink, says the state.
The prison, built to accommodate 2,140 inmates, now has 2,414 (nearly 90% of them are undertrials like Kunal).
After Kunal's suicide bid, magistrate Arvind Mishra (who heads the Saradha trial court) ordered the jail superintendent to take all precautionary measures so that no untoward incident happens to the undertrial. The magistrate made the jail boss "solely responsible for the body and mind of the accused."
The jail started deputing at least six warders every day to keep an eye on Kunal and asks SSKM doctors to periodically check on him.
The Trinamool-controlled State Government Jail Employees Federation president Asish Banik says the prison is short of 103 guards staff and six officers. To add to it, every time Kunal is produced in court a security detail of 70 cops is required.
The letters, vetted by the state legal remembrancer, and sent by ADG-prisons Adhir Sharma, were cleared at the top levels in Nabanna, say sources. Both were sent to CBI joint director Rajeev Singh, who is heading the Saradha probe. After the first evoked no response, the second was marked to the CBI director, urging the agency to appeal in court to move Kunal out. Sharma refused to comment.
Kunal's lawyer Soumyajit Raha said, "It isn't CBI's but the court's discretion which prison he will be sent to. Also there is a question of feasibility. Court productions are a legal mandate. If there is any such move, we will contest it."
The state, however, argues that several prisons in Bihar and Jharkhand have video conferencing facilities. All it would take is to facilitate the CBI special court in Kolkata with uplinking facilities.
Kunal has been a thorn in the government's side with his repeated allegations against Trinamool leaders in the Saradha scam.
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