The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday issued fresh summons to Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and his wife in a money laundering case linked to an alleged coal scam in West Bengal.
The law enforcement agency directed Abhishek to appear before it on March 21 and his wife, Rujira, on March 22, officials familiar with the matter said. The summons came in the backdrop of the Delhi high court, last week, dismissing a plea by the couple challenging these notices issued to them on September 10 last year.
It also came a day after a special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in west Burdwan district issued an arrest warrant against TMC’s former youth leader and businessman Vinay Mishra. The CBI, which is also conducting a probe in the matter, believes Mishra is the prime suspect.
The fresh ED summons triggered a sharp reaction from the ruling party.
“The politics of vendetta started as soon as the civic body elections were over. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could not form a board in even one of the 108 civic bodies. It will also lose the upcoming assembly by-poll at Ballygunge and the Lok Sabha by-poll in Asansol. The probe agencies were used in the same manner during the assembly polls last year but the BJP could not reap any political dividend,” state education minister Bratya Basu said.
Dismissing the allegation, state BJP chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said: “The BJP is not conducting the probe. The agencies are doing their job following court orders. The CBI and ED decide who will be grilled and when.”
{{/usCountry}}Dismissing the allegation, state BJP chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said: “The BJP is not conducting the probe. The agencies are doing their job following court orders. The CBI and ED decide who will be grilled and when.”
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