ED issues fresh summons to Mamata Banerjee's nephew, wife in coal scam case

New Delhi, March 17

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued fresh summons to TMC’s Lok Sabha member Abhishek Banerjee and his wife for questioning under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the alleged coal scam case, officials in the agency said.

Banerjee, nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and national general secretary of the TMC, and his wife Rujira Banerjee have been asked to depose before the investigation officer next week here at the agency’s headquarters, the officials said.

The Delhi High Court had on March 11 dismissed a plea by the couple challenging the summons that asked them to appear before the ED.

Banerjee has once been questioned by the ED in this case in September last year.

The ED lodged a case under the provisions of the PMLA on the basis of an FIR registered by the CBI in November 2020 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 operative Anup Majhi alias Lala is alleged to be the prime suspect in the case.