Jan. 21: Mukul Roy seems to be eyeing an opportunity to rub shoulders with Barack Obama before answering the CBI summons in the Saradha case.

The Trinamul general secretary today sent an email to the CBI, specifying that he would be available after 2pm on January 28. Roy added that he would be available till January 30. The leader tonight confirmed having sent the mail.

'I will leave for Calcutta tomorrow and return on January 25 evening as I have to attend the programme at Rashtrapati Bhavan (on Republic Day). I will go to Calcutta again after the Supreme Court hearing the next day,' Roy told reporters in Delhi.

The Telegraph spoke to several senior CBI officers tonight but all of them said they were yet to receive any mail from Roy.

The US President will be the guest of honour at the 'At Home' programme to be hosted by President Pranab Mukherjee. Roy has been invited to the event by virtue of being the leader of the Trinamul Congress parliamentary party.

On January 27 (Tuesday), the Supreme Court could hear pleas by the Bengal government and Trinamul requesting that the court monitor the probe into the Saradha scam.

Roy was supposed to let the CBI know by tonight when he would be available for questioning. He had sought 15 days' time, citing election duties, but the central agency had suggested that he turn up in seven days.

The Trinamul leader told reporters in Delhi that he would attend birthday celebrations of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in Bengal on January 23 and address party workers the next day in North 24-Parganas' Bongaon, where a Lok Sabha bypoll will be held on February 13.

Roy, who is in Delhi for the past couple of days, is learnt to have been meeting lawyers to prepare himself for the CBI questioning.

Earlier in the day, CBI officers in Calcutta had said they were mulling summoning Roy again. They added that senior officers would decide by tomorrow where the summons would be sent.

SC date

The Supreme Court today indicated that it might take up the Bengal government's petition only on Tuesday.

The Trinamul government was hoping that the hearing would be held tomorrow as had been hinted at by the court earlier, subject to the availability of a second judge.

However, when state counsel Anip Sachthey requested the court to list the matter today, the bench expressed its inability to do so.

Justice T.S. Thakur told Sachthey that the plea could not be accommodated as there was 'some difficulty' in the composition of the bench.

Justice C. Nagappan, the judge who was part of Justice Thakur's bench that last year ordered the CBI probe into the deposit-collection scam, was preoccupied with other matters in another bench.

The court today said it might consider hearing the applications moved by the state government and the Trinamul Congress, subject to the 'availability of Justice Nagappan' on Tuesday.

Justice Thakur also told another counsel, Shubashish Bhowmick, that his separate contempt application against Mamata Banerjee and others might also be listed on Tuesday for hearing.