Supreme Court asks ED to question Abhishek Banerjee in Kolkata instead of Delhi

The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to question Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee in West Bengal in an alleged coal theft case. The Supreme Court told the Bengal government to cooperate with the Central investigating agency and to provide protection to its officers when they are in Bengal to question Abhishek Banerjee, who is the nephew of Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

The Supreme Court also said that the ED must inform Abhishek Banerjee at least 24 hours before they want to question him in Kolkata. The ED has been allowed to inform the Supreme Court if the ED officers face any “obstruction” linked to the Bengal government, saying, it won’t “tolerate any kind of obstruction and interference by the state machinery”.

Abhishek Banerjee had asked for the questioning to be held in his home state instead of Delhi, the headquarters of the probe body. The Supreme Court also stayed a bailable warrant issued by a Delhi court against Abhishek Banerjee’s wife Rujira, on a complaint by the probe agency for not responding to summons. She is one of the accused in the case.