HOWRAH: Policemen waiting for the chief minister's convoy on an expressway held up an ambulance carrying a heart attack victim to Kolkata on Wednesday morning and refused to let it go even when the patient's kin pleaded with folded hands. What's worse, the cops played doctor, checked the woman's pulse and declared she could wait until the CM passed.

Mamata was scheduled to return from Digha in East Midnapore and police weren't sure if she would fly back or come by road. The CM eventually took a helicopter. For 20 minutes, Meherjan Begum lay gasping for breath while her kin prayed she would cling on to life until they reached SSKM Hospital in Kolkata, a 20-minute drive away. It was only when senior officers learnt of her plight that the ambulance was allowed to go.

Meherjan, 50, has been admitted in the cardiology department of SSKM Hospital in a critical condition, said her relative Md Aziz. A doctor said she has complete heart blockage but her condition is stable.

A resident of Jagachha's Unsani area, Meherjan complained of chest pain early Wednesday morning and her family called local doctor Kazi Bulbul. "I immediately suspected she had a heart attack and referred her to SSKM Hospital," Bulbul said. An ambulance was quickly arranged and Aziz was sent with her to SSKM.

As the ambulance was about to hit Kona Expressway from Santragachi Station Road, it ran into a massive traffic snarl. A bus had broken down at 10.57 am on Santragachi Bridge just metres from the crossing. Some vehicles slipped through a single lane immediately after the accident, but police stopped traffic until the CM's convoy passed.

Aziz got off and pleaded with the policemen. "They brushed aside my pleas and told me that the ambulance could go only after the CM's convoy had passed. I kept pleading and told them my relative had suffered a heart attack and was in a very critical condition. Some constables checked her pulse and told me that she was stable and could safely wait," said Aziz.

Twenty minutes passed before senior officers intervened. Howrah DC-traffic Sumit Kumar said, "I am not aware of any ambulance being stopped by policemen on the CM's duty. But if it happened, it is totally unexpected. We issue no such instruction to stop ambulances for the CM's convoy. Ambulances are always supposed to be given priority."