Enforcement Directorate issues fresh summons to TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee, wife in coal scam case

The Enforcement Directorate has issued fresh summons to TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee and his wife for questioning in a money laundering case linked to an alleged coal scam in West Bengal, officials said on Thursday. Banerjee, nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the national general secretary of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), and his wife Rujira Banerjee have been asked to depose before the investigation officer here next week, they said. While the MP has been asked to appear on March 21, his wife has been asked to depose the next day.

The fresh summons has come in the backdrop of the Delhi High Court order dated March 11 where the court dismissed a plea by the couple challenging these notices issued to them on September 10 last year. The summons issued in September, 2021, directed them to appear before the ED in the national capital.

The couple had sought the high court’s intervention, saying they should not be asked by the federal agency to appear in Delhi since they were residents of West Bengal.