Jalpaiguri, Jan. 18: Chairman of Jalpaiguri Municipality Mohan Bose stayed away from the hearing of his case at the Jalpaiguri district and sessions court today.

The Congress leader?s absence meant that the anticipatory bail that he had obtained from the court on January 3 was not confirmed. ?As he did not appear before court today, the bail he had secured earlier stands void now,? a source at the court said.

District Congress president Biswaranjan Sarkar hinted that Bose was in Delhi. ?He is out of town and could not come to court today because his flight was cancelled,? Sarkar said. ?Our legal advisors are looking into the issue.?

On January 3, the court had upheld Bose?s anticipatory bail plea in one case but rejected it in another, thus putting him under threat of arrest. Afterwards Bose had reportedly said he would surrender the next day, but failed to keep his promise. Instead, he requested through an emissary for two days? time from the police since he had filed a petition at Calcutta High Court. The police at first flatly refused to grant him time, but later decided otherwise.

Over the past few days, Bose has been continuously denying that he is an absconder.

The vice-chairman of the Congress-held municipality, Pinaki Sengupta, said today: ?The chairman left on January 4, asking me to take care of the civic body. The situation is perfect here and not a single resident of the town has come to us with any grievances over the past 15 days.?