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TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee summoned again by ED in job scam case
Meanwhile, the Income Tax department conducted search operations at the home and business establishments of Tanmoy Ghosh, BJP legislator from Bishnupur, who joined the TMC months after the 2021 assembly polls
Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday for questioning in the bribe-for-job scam in the West Bengal education department, women and child development minister Shashi Panja said on Wednesday and alleged that probe agencies were being used by the Centre to target opposition parties before Lok Sabha polls.
Meanwhile, the Income Tax department conducted search operations at the home and business establishments of Tanmoy Ghosh, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from Bishnupur in Bankura district, who joined the TMC months after the 2021 assembly polls. He has not resigned from the BJP till now.
Two days ago, the Income Tax Department served notice to Akhil Giri, the minister for correctional homes, asking him to provide details of his income, Panja said. Giri is a rival of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari in East Midnapore, their home district.
“Abhishek will go tomorrow and answer their questions but all this is harassment with a political motive. Our leaders receive summons as soon as BJP leaders such as Adhikari take their names in public and say notices from Income Tax department or ED will be sent to them. The harassment is increasing as we approach the Lok Sabha polls,” Panja said.
Brushing aside the allegation, Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar said, “We have heard that tea of quite high quality is served to guests at the ED office. Abhishek Banerjee should enjoy the tea and have a chat with the officers.”
Abhishek, the nephew of chief minister Mamata Banerjee, received the summon notice on Tuesday when he was celebrating his birthday with party workers in his Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha constituency, TMC leaders said. He has been summoned to the agency’s Salt Lake office on the eastern outskirts of Kolkata where he deposed twice earlier in the job scam case.
ED also summoned Abhishek Banerjee’s wife, Rujira, and his parents between October 6 and 9 for questioning. Several TMC leaders, including former education minister Partha Chatterjee, are in judicial custody in this case which the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is also probing under orders of the Calcutta high court.
The TMC MP’s father, Amit Banerjee - one of the younger siblings of Mamata Banerjee – and his wife, Lata Banerjee, did not visit the ED office citing health reasons. Rujira Banerjee, however, faced the investigators.
The earlier notices were sent to Abhishek Banerjee under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and they mentioned his company, Leaps and Bounds, in which his wife and parents were directors as per the company’s records, the ED recently told the Calcutta high court. The offices of Leaps and Bounds were raided by ED on August 21 and 22.
Calcutta high court judge Amrita Sinha, who is hearing the bribe-for-job case, pulled up the ED during a hearing on September 25 and asked why the probe status report filed by the agency did not have details of properties owned by the directors of Leaps and Bounds.
