ED summons TMC's Abhishek Banerjee in recruitment case on June 13

The summons came on a day the Election Commission announced the date of Bengal's panchayat election – July 8.

The Enforcement Directorate summoned Trinamool MP and national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, nephew of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee -- in connection with its probe into the teachers' recruitment scam on June 13. The summons comes as Abhishek's wife Rujira was being probed by the investigative agency in connection with a coal pilferage case. On Thursday, Rujira was grilled by the ED for nearly four hours at the ED office in Kolkata.

Abhishek Banerjee said he would not join the ED questioning as he is now busy.(Hindustan Times)

Abhishek said he would not comply with the summons as he is now busy with the mass outreach campaign. "I am not obligated to appear before investigative agencies at their whims,” Abhishek said.

The summons also coincided with the announcement of the panchayat election in the state. The three-tier panchayat election in West Bengal will be held on July 8, state election commissioner Rajiv Sinha said on Thursday.

As his wife was being questioned for hours together, after she was stopped from flying to the UAE, Abhishek alleged the "harassment" of his family was aimed at stopping his outreach campaign ahead of the panchayat elections in West Bengal.

Rujira was stopped along with her two children at the Kolkata airport on Monday when she was heading to UAE. She was then served the summons for appearing before the agency at 11 am on June 8.