The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday handed a summons to Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee, directing him to appear for questioning in connection with alleged irregularities in recruitment in state-aided schools.
Sources said Abhishek was asked to appear at the agency’s office at the CGO Complex in Salt Lake on June 15 after “certain leads emerged” about the alleged parking of proceeds of crime in several accounts linked to him.
“We want to question him on a money trail that has emerged while investigating the path that the proceeds of crime took in this recruitment scam,” a senior ED official said, refusing to go into further details.
Wednesday’s summons to Abhishek came hours after he moved Calcutta High
Court challenging a summons issued by the CID, the state investigating agency probing an alleged signature fraud involving a section of Trinamool MLAs.
Abhishek’s legal counsel Sirsanya Bandopadhyay moved a vacation bench of the court seeking permission to file a petition. The court granted permission.
“It won’t be proper to reveal the petition’s contents at this point,” Bandopadhyay told Metro.
“The matter will be heard on Friday,” he said.
Abhishek has faced the CBI and the ED, central agencies probing alleged irregularities in school recruitments and coal pilferage, on several occasions in the past.
The CID had earlier summoned Abhishek to appear before a team of interrogators on Monday. He did not show up, citing health reasons, and sought 15 days’ time before facing an SIT formed by the CID to probe the alleged signature fraud. Within hours of seeking time, a team reached his residence and served a fresh summons directing him to appear before the CID on June 8.
On Wednesday, an ED team reached the Kalighat Road residence of the MP. Sources said Abhishek had left for Mamata Banerjee’s residence when the team arrived. In his absence, the summons was served to someone at the house.
ED sources said the agency is also examining whether suspicious transactions linked to alleged middlemen in the school recruitment case are connected to Leaps and Bounds, where Abhishek was a director between 2012 and 2014.