Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Abhishek Banerjee’s wife Rujira Banerjee was stopped by the immigration department at Kolkata Airport from boarding a Dubai-bound flight and has been summoned to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on June 8.
“Though not required to intimate, still to express her bonafide, Rujira Banerjee, wife of TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee informed ED through email of her upcoming visit to Dubai from June 5 to June 13 with her children. There was no response/communication from ED objecting to such a visit which they could not have in view of the orders of the Supreme Court,” said Rujira Banerjee’s lawyer. “Today in gross violation of the Supreme Court’s orders, she was stopped at immigration along with her minor kids and informed that she cannot travel abroad. She was also handed over a copy of summon directing her to appear before the ED office in Kolkata on June 8. We will be moving to court as it has been a violation of SC order,” the lawyer added.
The ED lodged a case under the provisions of the PMLA based on a November 2020 FIR registered by the CBI that alleged a multi-crore coal pilferage scam related to Eastern Coalfields Ltd mines in the state’s Kunustoria and Kajora areas in and around Asansol.
Local coal operative Anup Majee is alleged to be the prime suspect in the case. The ED had claimed that the TMC MP was a beneficiary of funds obtained from this illegal trade. Banerjee has denied all charges.
