Kolkata, Hours after the Calcutta High Court refused to hear his appeal for relief in the alleged teacher recruitment scam, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Abhishek Banerjee was asked by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to appear for “examination” on Saturday. Was called for ,
This double blow has come at a time when TMC’s second command is roaming around Bengal to campaign for the panchayat elections.
Abhishek took to Twitter to say he would comply with the summons despite the central agency “not giving a day’s notice”.
I have received a summons from the CBI to appear before them for questioning tomorrow, 20 May 23.
I will obey the summons even though I have not been given a day’s notice.
I will extend my full cooperation during the investigation. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/lh7DJY6MQW
— Abhishek Banerjee (@abhishekaitc) May 19, 2023
On Friday morning, the Calcutta High Court declined to give an urgent hearing to Abhishek’s appeal against the single bench order that had allowed the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to interrogate him in the alleged scam.
Justice Amrita Sinha had dismissed Abhishek’s application seeking withdrawal of the probe ordered by Justice Abhijit Banerjee against him. The judge also imposed a fine of Rs 25 lakh each on him and Trinamool youth leader Kuntal Ghosh, arrested in the case.
A division bench headed by Justice Subrata Talukdar declined to entertain the plea on urgent basis as there were several matters to be taken up by it before the high court goes on summer vacation starting Monday.
Following the Supreme Court order, the Calcutta High Court had transferred two cases in connection with the alleged scam from the court of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay to the court of Justice Sinha.
“The act of the applicants in suppressing the instant applications raises suspicion in the mind of the court that the filings have been made with mala fide intention to get the investigating officers to follow the process of investigation which has already opened a box of worms. With more to follow,” Justice Sinha had said while passing an interim order in the petitions filed by the two Trinamool leaders.
“The idea is to delay the entire process as much as possible so that the real culprits are shielded. In fact, neither the ED nor the CBI has taken any further action because of the filing of the application,” the judge further said.
BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya told ThePrint that the Trinamool is “drowning” in the teacher recruitment scam. “The court is the place of justice for those who were illegally denied jobs in the state. Corruption in Trinamool runs from top to bottom.
condemnable comments of the court
While hearing the case, Justice Sinha also lambasted the ED and the CBI for the slow pace of investigation. “This report is prehistoric and does not reflect the present development,” Justice Sinha told the ED counsel, who submitted a status report in a sealed cover on Wednesday.
Later, the judge wrote in the order that “the conduct of the applicants in resisting the investigation casts a cloud on the bona fides of the applicants”.
“Abhishek Banerjee being at the top of the ruling political party should not be sidelined from the investigation process. On the contrary, the applicants and in particular Abhishek Banerjee are making every possible effort to oppose such investigation. The proper way would be to test yourself and come out clean instead of avoiding or running away from the whole process.
“The state machinery, especially the police, also appears to be supporting the accused. The hyperactivity of the Superintendent of the Presidency Correctional Home is also worth noting. The swift action taken by the superintendent on receiving the complaint of KG (Kunal Ghosh) is a clear proof of his loyalty to the state.
political implication
In Purba Bardhaman, Abhishek had said that he would explore the option of approaching the High Court or a division bench of the Supreme Court to challenge Justice Amrita Sinha’s decision.
“As a citizen I have legal recourse, I have full faith in the judicial system. Whenever I have been called by any investigating agency, I have appeared before them. I have also appeared in New Delhi. If any agency calls me for questioning, I will stop running Jono Sanjog Yatra and appear before the agency, I will cooperate,” he said on Thursday.
This is not the first time that Abhishek has been served notices for questioning by central agencies. In March 2022, the ED questioned him in Delhi in the alleged coal scam. Six months later, he again appeared before the ED in Kolkata for questioning.
His wife Rujira was also earlier questioned by the central agencies in connection with the alleged coal scam probe. In February 2021, a CBI team arrived at Abhishek’s house and asked Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to go there, where she was seen accompanying Abhishek’s daughter, while officials remained inside.
Nearly a year later, in June, Rujira reached the ED’s Kolkata office with her child in her arms for questioning in the alleged coal smuggling case.
The Trinamool had claimed that the Center was targeting Abhishek and his wife after the party’s landslide victory in the state elections in 2021, where it defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party.
(Edited by Tony Rae)