West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Monday escalated the political row over Mamata Banerjee’s 2021 leg injury, warning the former chief minister that more medical documents could be disclosed if she or her legal team pursued the matter further.

According to The Indian Express, Adhikari’s remarks came shortly after Banerjee issued a legal notice to SSKM Hospital and the Bangur Institute of Neurosciences, demanding an explanation over the alleged unauthorised disclosure of her medical records related to the Nandigram incident.

Speaking to reporters, Adhikari appeared to caution Banerjee against pursuing the issue further, saying that he could make additional records, including X-ray plates and MRI reports, public if required.

“Do not poke around too much. If I start showing the X-ray plates and MRI reports, you will not be able to step out of your house,” he said.

Adhikari also claimed that the documents in his possession were not sourced from SSKM Hospital, while declining to immediately disclose how he obtained them.

“If necessary, I will say where I got the records from. The papers were not at SSKM. They were not supposed to be at SSKM,” he said, adding that Banerjee’s legal team should not “dig too deep” into the issue.

He further claimed that Banerjee had retained several documents in her office at Nabanna, saying she had expected to return as chief minister for a fourth term. Adhikari did not clarify whether the medical records he referred to had been obtained from Banerjee’s office or her residence.

The latest exchange follows Adhikari’s recent allegation that Banerjee had fabricated her leg injury during the 2021 West Bengal Assembly election campaign in Nandigram. It also comes a day ahead of the Nandigram bypoll—once a hotly contested seat between Adhikari and Banerjee which is going to the polls again after Adhikari vacated the seat to retain the Bhabanipur assembly constituency, defeating the TMC supremo in her home turf.

Though the Nandigram Assembly bypoll, scheduled for October 6, has 16 candidates in the fray, it is set to see a straight contest between BJP’s Hasirani Rath and Congress’ Milan Pradhan, who has been granted interim bail by the Calcutta High Court to fight the election.

The bypoll has also drawn attention after TMC’s initial nominee withdrew, with the party subsequently backing Pradhan, who was arrested on September 18 in connection with several criminal cases dating back to the 2007 Nandigram anti-land-acquisition movement.

According to The Indian Express, at a press conference a few days ago, Adhikari displayed a document that he identified as a March 11, 2021, report from the Department of Radio Diagnosis at the Bangur Institute of Neurosciences. According to Adhikari, the report did not indicate any fracture.

He had also announced that the state government would initiate a fresh inquiry into what he described as Banerjee’s “false claims” regarding the leg injury during the 2021 election campaign.

Banerjee’s legal team subsequently sought answers from the hospitals over the alleged disclosure of her medical information. The notice sought an explanation on how Banerjee’s medical records allegedly came into Adhikari’s possession and how they were subsequently made public.