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ED summons Mamata’s nephew, his wife over money laundering case
Abhishek, 33, TMC Lok Sabha MP from Diamond Harbour and chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew, has been asked to appear for questioning on September 6 and Rujira on September 1.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued summons to Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and his wife, Rujira, to appear before it for questioning in Delhi in connection with its money laundering probe into an illegal coal mining scam, people familiar with the matter said on Saturday.
Abhishek, 33, TMC Lok Sabha MP from Diamond Harbour and chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew, has been asked to appear for questioning on September 6 and Rujira on September 1. The TMC leader faces both ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe in the case. CBI questioned Rujira in February this year as well.
Reacting sharply to the summons, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Saturday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government for “letting loose central agencies” on het party MP in the case, claiming that some BJP ministers were working hand in glove with coal mafia. She also accused the Centre of trying to “bulldoze the federal structure” of the country and snatching away rights of the states.
“The BJP and the Union government can’t fight us politically. The party was defeated in the assembly polls and now they are using central agencies against our leaders like Abhishek Banerjee and others. But let me tell them, they can’t bulldoze or intimidate us by such threats. We will continue our fight against them,” Banerjee said, while proposing to call a meeting of all chief ministers to fight against “the Centre’s authoritarianism”.
Some police officers from West Bengal have also been asked to appear before ED in September, people cited above said.
The ED’s money laundering probe is based on a CBI First Information Report (FIR) registered in November 2020 over alleged mass coal pilferage in Eastern Coalfields Ltd mines in Kunustoria and Kajora in West Bengal.
A local contractor, Anup Majhi alias Lala, is said to be the prime suspect in the scam.
ED told a Delhi court in April this year that Abhishek Banerjee was allegedly a beneficiary of funds obtained in the illegal mining. TMC rejected the charges as political. ED also informed the court, just ahead of the West Bengal elections, that illegal mining was flourishing in the state under the “patronage” of the political party in power.
ED has cited the probe and alleged ₹1,352 crore was generated by Majhi through illegal coal mining in two years. It is alleged that the funds collected by Majhi and others in connivance with the police officers reached the political leaders in West Bengal and then were laundered in India and abroad.
Former TMC Youth leader Vinay Mishra, who is wanted in the case, is absconding. His brother Vikas Mishra and a police inspector, Ashok Kumar Mishra, were arrested in March and April.
“Investigation revealed a deep system of political patronage and well-oiled network by which the system was subverted to carry out these illegal activities in a brazen manner,” ED said in April.
It said the alleged kingpin of this coal pilferage scam did “illegal coal mining business smoothly by managing senior functionaries of the political party of West Bengal though Inspector Mishra”.
The agency claimed that documents it has seized show that Majhi “assisted in transferring substantial funds derived from the proceeds of crime to Abhishek Banerjee’s close relative (wife and sister-in-law) at London and Thailand.”
“If you show us (threaten us with) ED, we will also send proof against BJP leaders to the agency. A section of BJP ministers and leaders are working hand in glove with the coal mafia. They even stayed at hotels run by them during elections,” the Bengal CM said.
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