The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday issued summons to Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee in connection with a case registered by an agency in West Bengal school job scam. The CBI had asked the Diamond Harbour MP to appear before the agency’s office in Kolkata at 11 a.m. on Saturday (May 20).
Responding to the summons the Trinamool leader said that “he will give full cooperation during the course of the investigation”. “I have received a summon from the CBI to appear before them tomorrow, on 20th May’23 for examination. Despite not being given even a day’s prior notice, I will still abide by the summon. I will give my full cooperation during the course of the investigation,” Mr. Banerjee said on Twitter.
The Trinamool’s second-in-command, who was busy with the party’s outreach programme said that he will resume the event on May 22. “As for my #JonoSanjogYatra, it will resume again on 22nd May’23 from the same location in Bankura where I stop today. Unfazed by these events, I shall strive to serve the people of West Bengal with even greater dedication, zeal and commitment. Bring it on,” Mr. Banerjee said. Later in the day while speaking at a public meeting in Bankura, he said that people will not have to hit the streets for him but for their rights, which include denial of 100 days work.
The summons comes a day after Calcutta High Court dismissed his petition filed by Trinamool leader seeking recall of a previous order of the same court which said that investigative agencies such as CBI and ED could interrogate him in the teacher recruitment scam. Justice Amrita Sinha imposed a penalty of ₹25 lakh on Mr. Banerjee and also a similar amount on Kuntal Ghosh, an accused in the scam.
On Friday, lawyers representing the Trinamool general secretary approached a division bench of the High Court seeking urgent hearing of the petition, but the Court refused to entertain the matter with urgency.
While summons to Mr. Banerjee have been issued in the past by the CBI as well as the Enforcement Directorate in the coal pilferage scam, the name of the Trinamool Congress leader in the recruitment scam came up, started last month, when an accused Kuntal Ghosh said that he was threatened by agencies to name Mr. Banerjee. Kuntal Ghosh had also written a letter to the Court and Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay, in his order on April 13, said that accused Kuntal Ghosh could be questioned by the central agencies along with Abhishek Banerjee.
The order was challenged in the Supreme Court by lawyers representing Mr. Banerjee. The Supreme Court on April 28 urged the then acting chief justice of the Calcutta High Court T.S. Sivagnanam to reassign two cases Soumen Nandy versus the State of West Bengal and Ramesh Malik versus State of West Bengal to a separate bench. The matter was listed before Justice Amrita Sinha who refused to grant any relief to Mr. Banerjee.
During his road show in Bankura Mr. Banerjee dared the CBI to arrest him. He said that for the past three years the central agencies were trying to frame him first in coal (pilferage scam) , then in cattle (smuggling) and now SSC ( school service commission) recruitment scam.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee chipped in for her nephew to address a rally at Bankura at the last moment on Friday. Mr. Banerjee had to leave for Kolkata to appear before CBI at 11 am on Saturday and could not address the meeting
Addressing her party supporters virtually from her Kolkata residence the Chief Minister said that she will lead the party outreach initiative ‘Trinamooler Nabo Jowar ( Trinamool’s New Wave)‘ if Abhishek Banerjee was not allowed to go ahead with the initiative. “BJP is after everyone in our party and my family, but we are not afraid of them,”Ms. Banerjee said. She also vowed to fight till the BJP was removed from the power at the Centre.
