NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) will question West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee and his wife Rujira in the coal scam case next week, sources in the agency said.
“We shall be questioning Abhishek Banerjee on March 21 and his wife Rujira Banerjee on March 22,” ED sources told The New Indian.
The sources said that fresh summons have been issued to the couple after the Delhi High Court dismissed their petition seeking quashing of summons issued by the agency in connection with the West Bengal coal scam case.
Last week, the Delhi High Court also dismissed the plea by Rujira Banerjee against the complaint filed by the ED on charges of money laundering in the case. The petition had also sought to quash the summons against her for physical appearance before the agency and also the trial court taking cognizance of the complaint.
The ED had registered a case of money laundering last year on the basis of the case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in November 2020 on the allegations that a coal pilferage at a massive scale was taking place in the mines of Eastern Coalfields Ltd in Kunustoria and Kajora areas in West Bengal.
The CBI had questioned Rujira Banerjee in connection with the case on February 23, days before of the Assembly elections in the state. Her sister and family members were also quizzed in the case, in which local coal operative Anup Majhi alias Lala is allegedly the prime suspect.
The agency had earlier said that TMC General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee, who represents Diamond Harbor constituency in Lok Sabha, was a beneficiary of the funds obtained from the illegal trade of coal, a charge rejected by him.
After arresting Ashok Kumar Mishra, the former Inspector in-charge of Bankura police station, the ED had said in a Delhi court in April last year that Abhishek was a beneficiary of funds obtained in the illegal mining, which was flourishing in West Bengal under the ‘patronage’ of the ruling party.
“Majhi assisted in transferring substantial funds derived from the proceeds of crime to Abhishek Banerjee’s close relative (wife and sister-in-law) at London and Thailand,” the financial probe agency had the court.
The ED had also arrested Vikas Mishra, brother of TMC youth wing leader Vinay Mishra, who is said to be close to Abhishek, in the case. He left the country in September 2020 and has already renounced his Indian citizenship.
According to the investigation carried out by the anti-money laundering agency, an amount of Rs 1,352 crore has been illegally generated by Majhi through illegal coal mining in just two years.