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CBI summons TMC’s Abhishek in school recruitment case
CBI on Friday summoned TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee for questioning on Saturday in connection with the multi-crore School Service Commission recruitment scam,
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday summoned Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Abhishek Banerjee for questioning on Saturday in connection with the multi-crore School Service Commission recruitment scam, triggering a sharp reaction from West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee who alleged the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was misusing investigating agencies against opposition parties.
Abhishek also dared the central agency to arrest him.
CBI is probing alleged irregularities in the recruitment of Group C and Group D staff, as well as teachers, in government-sponsored and aided schools on the recommendations of the West Bengal School Service Commission in 2018. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is conducting a parallel probe into the matter.
Three TMC legislators, including former education minister Partha Chatterjee, under whose tenure the alleged irregularities took place, have been arrested so far in the case.
On Thursday, the Calcutta high court allowed CBI and ED to quiz Abhishek whose name cropped up after Kuntal Ghosh, one of the arrested persons and the prime accused in the case, alleged that central agencies are pressuring him to implicate the former.
“BJP is after everyone in our party and my family, but we are not afraid of them,” Mamata said as she virtually addressed a rally at Bankura hours after her nephew was issued the summons. “Till BJP is ousted from the Centre, our fight against its tyranny will continue,” she added.
While Abhishek said he will extend “full cooperation during the course of the investigation”, he also dared CBI to arrest him.
“I dare CBI to arrest me if they have any proof of corruption against me. They have been probing many cases in Bengal for the last several years. They should arrest me if they have any proof against me,” Abhishek, who is the national general secretary of the ruling TMC, told a rally in Bankura.
In its notice on Friday, CBI directed Abhishek to appear for questioning at 11am at its office in Kolkata. “Despite not being given even a day’s prior notice, I will still abide by the summon. I will give my full cooperation during the course of the investigation,” he tweeted.
He also said that the party’s ongoing public outreach programme, ‘Jono Sanjog Yatra’, will resume on Sunday. “As for my #JonoSanjogYatra, it will resume again on 22nd May’23 from the same location in Bankura where I stop today. Unfazed by these events, I shall strive to serve the people of West Bengal with even greater dedication, zeal and commitment. Bring it on,” he said.
Reacting to the summons, BJP legislator Suvendu Adhikari said: “He (Abhishek) had earlier said that he would embrace the gallows if his involvement in the scam was proved. I would say he need not embrace the gallows but simply cooperate with the investigating agencies.”
Abhishek, his wife Rujira and his sister-in-law Menaka Gambhir were questioned by federal agencies in connection with an alleged coal scam in the past.
