ED summons TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee on June 15 in Bengal recruitment case

The summons, which require the former chief minister’s nephew to turn up at ED’s Kolkata zonal office, were delivered at Banerjee’s Kalighat area residence.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday summoned Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee to appear before the agency on June 15 in connection with its money laundering probe linked to irregularities in West Bengal’s primary teachers’ recruitment case, people familiar with the development said.

TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee shows his broken glasses to media after being roughed up by unidentified people during a visit to Sonarpur to meet the post-poll violence victims' families, in Sonarpur on Saturday. (ANI Video Gr)

The summons, which require the former chief minister’s nephew to turn up at ED’s Kolkata zonal office, were delivered at Banerjee’s Kalighat area residence.

The ED probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which started in 2022, is based on first information report (FIR) registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) pertaining to illegal appointment of primary teachers, offering appointment to the undeserving, non-listed and below ranked candidates and depriving the deserving and genuine candidates.

Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials arrive at the residence of TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee on Kalighat Road in connection with alleged irregularities in the teacher recruitment case, in Kolkata on Wednesday (ANI)

The FIR was registered by CBI on the directions of the Calcutta high court.

ED has already filed multiple charge sheets against several TMC leaders and former ministers including Chandranath Sinha and Partha Chatterjee and carried out multiple raids.

Charges have also been framed against 54 persons and entities including Partha Chatterjee and trial is undergoing before a special court in West Bengal.

Officials said that total assets attached under PMLA in the primary teachers recruitment cases stands at ₹154 crore while in the related cases related to SSC assistant teacher recruitment and Group ‘C’ and ‘D’ staff recruitment scams in West Bengal during TMC’s tenure, properties worth ₹486 crore have been attached.

So far, in recruitment cases alone, ED has attached assets worth ₹641 crore.

The agency suspects that Abhishek Banerjee is a beneficiary of the recruitment scandals in the state.

ED had questioned him in 2022 in connection with its probe into money laundering worth ₹1,352 crore in an illegal coal mining case in West Bengal. He is also under the scanner in connection with probes pertaining to the political consultancy firm, I-PAC.