Calcutta High Court on Thursday asked Trinamul MP Abhishek Banerjee’s wife Rujira Narula to appear before a customs officer on April 8 and reply to queries over some documents after her return from a foreign trip.
Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj directed the customs authorities not to take any coercive measure against Narula when she meets the assistant commissioner. The order followed a plea by Narula seeking quashing of the notice.
The customs counsel, Ravi Prakash, claimed in court that Narula had been summoned as many “discrepancies” were found in her documents after her arrival in Calcutta on a Thai Airways flight on March 16.
Narula’s advocate S. N. Mukherjee contested the legality of the notice and said his client should get protection from the court. “Since the police have been conducting an inquiry on the basis of an FIR by the customs, they do not have the right to conduct a parallel probe.”
Additional advocate-general Abhratosh Majumdar, representing the state government, said the court should quash the notice.
Customs counsel Prakash said: “Narula is a citizen of Thailand but she has a PAN card issued in India. The notice by the customs authorities was sent to Rujira Narula but while receiving the notice, she had signed ‘Rujra Banerjee’.”
Opposition parties, including the BJP, had alleged that Abhishek’s wife and her sister had prevented customs officials from searching her baggage on arrival.
Abhishek had complained to the poll panel against the “false” charges. The panel has sought a report from the district magistrate of North 24-Parganas, under which the airport falls.