The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled the Enforcement Directorate can question TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee and his wife in a case related to smuggling of coal in Kolkata and not Delhi.
Abhishek is the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and also general secretary of the TMC.
The bench of Justices U.U. Lalit, Ravindra Bhat and Sudhanshu Dhulia made the ruling after Abhishek and his wife filed a special leave petition against a Delhi High Court judgement, that dismissed their challenge to summons from the ED. Abhishek had sought that he be questioned in Kolkata and not Delhi.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that Abhishek and his wife be interrogated in Kolkata, instead of Delhi, where they had been summoned by the ED. The Supreme Court warned it would not tolerate “any kind of obstruction and interference by the State machinery [in West Bengal]” ANI reported. The Supreme Court told the ED it could approach the apex court if investigators faced “obstruction” from the West Bengal government.
Last week, the Enforcement Directorate expressed apprehensions to the Supreme Court about questioning the Banerjees in Kolkata. The ED had referred to the fact that Abhishek was an “influential politician” and claimed CBI officers had been “gheraoed” in Kolkata.
Case against Abhishek
“The ED case stems from a November 2020 FIR registered by the CBI that alleged a multi-crore-rupee coal pilferage scam related to Eastern Coalfields Limited mines in West Bengal’s Kunustoria and Kajora areas in and around Asansol. Local coal operator Anup Majhi alias Lala is the prime suspect in the case. The ED had claimed that Banerjee was a beneficiary of the funds obtained from this illegal trade,” News 18 reported.
