Trinamool Congress’s National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee and his wife Rujira Banerjee moved Apex Court, challenging the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) summons in connection with a money laundering case linked to an alleged coal scam. The case pertains to the multi-crore illegal coal-mining allegations that surfaced in 2020 after the Govt-owned Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) filed a complaint. The illegal coal-mining scam, which surfaced in poll-bound Bengal, is now being probed by CBI and ED.
In September Abhishek Banerjee was questioned by the Election Commission for more than 8 hours. The couple had sought direction from the High Court of Delhi to the ED that they should not be summoned for appearance in Delhi. They asked Supreme Court to decide whether ED can assume pan-India jurisdiction to summon persons from anywhere to Delhi.
On March 11, the Delhi High Court dismissed the couple’s plea challenging the summons that asked them to appear before ED.
Banerjee said he had received an e-mail from the ED, asking him to appear before it on Monday. According to the summons issued by the Kolkata Police, the ED Officers are to report at the Kalighat police station by 12pm on Monday.
“I will not bow down. I will not be cowed. We will not surrender, nor will we sell our spine. We will see this fight till the end, however long it takes,” Banerjee said.
