Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee’s sister-in-law, Menaka Gambhir, was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for seven hours at the agency’s Kolkata office on Monday in connection with the coal smuggling case, officials aware of the development said.
Gambhir, who entered the ED office with her lawyer at 11:40am and left at 7:40pm, avoided questions from the media.
ED officials said she was asked about certain transactions in a foreign bank account linked to her.
Gambhir, her husband and her father-in-law were questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation in 2021. ED earlier summoned her to its Delhi office but the Calcutta high court ruled on her petition that the ED has to question her in Kolkata, where she lives, and cannot take any drastic action against her.
On Saturday, Gambhir was stopped by the ED from flying to Bangkok where her parents live and served summons at the Kolkata airport to appear for questioning on Monday.
But the summons handed over to her erroneously mentioned the time for her appearance as 12.30am on September 12, instead of 12.30pm. Gambhir’s lawyer Suman Mohanti said they went to ED office at midnight on Sunday and found it closed.
ED officials later said it was a typographical error and Gambhir could have easily sought a clarification over phone or e-mail instead of visiting the agency’s office at midnight. She was sent a corrected notice on Monday.
{{/usCountry}}ED officials later said it was a typographical error and Gambhir could have easily sought a clarification over phone or e-mail instead of visiting the agency’s office at midnight. She was sent a corrected notice on Monday.
{{/usCountry}}The TMC disassociated itself from Gambhir’s interrogation, saying this has no connection with the party. However, TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh took potshots at ED for the faux pas.
“India’s law does not permit any agency to summon a woman after sunset. If the ED violated the rule then there is enough ground for people to raise questions,” Ghosh said.
Gambhir’s lawyers moved a petition before the Calcutta high court on Monday, charging the ED with contempt of court for stopping her from flying to Bangkok.
Her lawyers argued that since the Supreme Court has allowed Abhishek Banerjee and his wife, Rujira, to travel abroad during the investigation, the same rule should apply to Gambhir as well since she, too, has been treated as a witness in this case like her sister and brother-in-law.
The petition is likely to be heard on Thursday, her lawyers said.
After being questioned for eight hours by the ED on September 2, Abhishek Banerjee unleashed a scathing attack on Union home minister Amit Shah and alleged that federal agencies are being used only against parties opposed to the Bharatiya Janata Party so that governments in non-BJP ruled states can be removed without fighting political battles.
CBI registered the coal smuggling case in November 2020 and the ED joined the probe later. It is alleged that illegally mined coal, worth several thousand crores of rupees, has been sold in the black market over several years by a racket operating in the western parts of Bengal where the Eastern Coalfields Limited runs several mines. It is alleged that proceeds from illegal trade went to, among other, political leaders. Around a dozen former and serving ECL staff have been arrested so far.