Kolkata: Hours after the Calcutta High Court refused to hear his appeal for relief in the alleged teachers’ recruitment scam, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Abhishek Banerjee was summoned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to appear before it for “examination” on Saturday.
The twin setback comes at a time when the TMC second-in-command is criss-crossing Bengal to campaign for the panchayat polls.
Abhishek took to Twitter saying that he would abide by the summons in spite of the central agency “not giving a day’s prior notice”.
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. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/lh7DJY6MQW
— Abhishek Banerjee (@abhishekaitc) May 19, 2023
On Friday morning, the Calcutta High Court refused to urgently hear an appeal by Abhishek against a single bench order that allowed the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to interrogate him in the alleged scam.
Justice Amrita Sinha had dismissed Abhishek’s application seeking to recall the order passed by Justice Abhijit Banerjee ordering the probe against him. The judge had also imposed costs of Rs 25 lakh each on him and former Trinamool youth leader Kuntal Ghosh, who was arrested in the case.
A division bench headed by Justice Subrata Talukdar refused to entertain the plea on an urgent basis as several cases were scheduled to be taken up by it before the high court goes on summer vacation beginning from Monday.
After 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 that of Justice Sinha.
“The act of the applicants in pressing the instant applications raises doubt in the mind of the court that the same have been filed with mala fide intention to deter the investigating officers to follow through the process of investigation which has already opened up a box of worms with more to follow suit,” 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 to the extent possible so that the real culprits can remain shielded. In fact, on account of filing the applications neither the ED nor the CBI appear to have proceeded any further,” the judge further said.
BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya told ThePrint that the Trinamool was “drowning” in the teacher recruitment scam. “The court is a place for justice for those who were illegally denied jobs in the state. Corruption runs from top to the bottom within the Trinamool,” he said.
Court’s damning observations
While hearing the matter, Justice Sinha had also come down heavily on the ED and the CBI on the slow pace of investigation. “This report is prehistoric and doesn’t reflect the current developments,” said Justice Sinha to the ED Counsel who had submitted a status report in a sealed cover Wednesday.
Later, the judge wrote in the order that the “conduct of the applicants in resisting investigation casts a cloud on the bona fide of the applicants”.
“Abhishek Banerjee being in the top rung of the ruling political party ought not to shy away from the investigation process. On the contrary, the applicants and particularly Abhishek Banerjee are trying tooth and nail to oppose such an investigation. The proper approach would be to put oneself to the test and come out clean instead of avoiding or running away from the entire process.
“The State machinery, especially the police, also appear to back the accused. The hyper activism of the Superintendent of the Presidency Correctional Home is also worth noticing. The lightning speed in which the Superintendent acted on receipt of the complaint of KG (Kunal Ghosh) is clear proof of his faithfulness to the State,” reads the 23-page order copy accessed by ThePrint.
Political implications
In Purba Bardhaman, Abhishek had said that he would explore the option of approaching a division bench of the high court or the Supreme Court to challenge Justice Amrita Sinha’s decision.
“As a citizen I have legal recourse, I have full faith in the justice system. Whenever I have been summoned by an investigating agency, I have appeared before them. I have also appeared in New Delhi. If any agency summons me for interrogation, I will pause the ongoing Jono Sanjog Yatra and appear before the agency, I will cooperate,” he said Thursday.
It is not the first time that Abhishek was served a notice by the central agencies for interrogation. 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 interrogation.
His wife Rujira, too, was earlier questioned by the central agencies in connection with the alleged coal scam investigation. In February 2021, a CBI team reached Abhishek’s house prompting Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to rush there where she was seen leaving with Abhishek’s daughter while the officers remained inside.
A little over a year later in June, Rujira had reached the ED’s Kolkata office with her toddler in her arms for questioning in the alleged coal smuggling case.
The Trinamool had claimed the Centre was targeting Abhishek and his wife after the party’s landslide victory in state elections back in 2021 where it defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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