TMC LEADER ABHISHEK APPEARS BEFORE ED IN MONEY LAUNDERING CASE

NEW DELHI: TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee on Monday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) here for questioning in a money laundering case linked to an alleged coal scam in West Bengal. The 34-year-old Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary was seen entering the new office of the central probe agency in central Delhi around 11 am.

Officials said Abhishek Banerjee’s statement will be recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and he is expected to be confronted with some “evidences” gathered by investigators in the case. His role and links with other accused is being investigated, they said.

The Diamond Harbour MP was once questioned in this case in September last year.

Abhishek Banerjee, the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, told reporters at the Kolkata airport on Sunday that the BJP government at the Centre is using the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for its political interests as it was unable to accept the setback in the 2021 West Bengal assembly polls.

His wife Rujira also left with him for Delhi and is expected to be examined by the agency in the same case on Tuesday.

The ED summons against the two came after the Delhi High Court on March 11 dismissed a plea by the couple challenging the agency notices asking them to appear in the national capital instead of Kolkata.

The agency lodged the case under the provisions of the PMLA based on a November 2020 FIR registered by the CBI that alleged a multi-crore coal pilferage scam related to Eastern Coalfields Limited mines in the state’s Kunustoria and Kajora areas in and around Asansol.

Local coal operator Anup Majhi alias Lala is alleged to be the prime suspect in the case.

The ED had claimed that the parliamentarian was a beneficiary of funds obtained from this illegal trade. It has arrested two people in this case till now.