Abhishek Banerjee fails to get HC protection against ED

Abhishek Banerjee, the MP from Diamond Harbour and the national general secretary of the Trinamool Congress, has appealed to the Calcutta High Court for protection against arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the alleged multi-crore school recruitment scam in West Bengal. The ED has summoned Banerjee to appear before it on September 13 for questioning.
The Trinamool Congress chairperson and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged that Abhishek, her nephew, had been summoned on a day when the I.N.D.I.A. bloc’s coordination committee meeting was to be held in Delhi. Abhishek is the TMC’s representative on the committee.
Justice Tirthankar Ghosh of Calcutta High Court said that a fresh case was not necessary since the ED had already questioned Abhishek Banerjee earlier in the coal scam case and the ED counsel had given a verbal assurance that no coercive action would be taken against the MP.
Banerjee filed a writ petition in the High Court, challenging the validity of the ED’s summons issued to him on September 8. He has also sought a stay on his arrest.
The ED is probing the scam on the basis of a complaint that irregularities had taken place in the recruitment of teachers in West Bengal between 2014 and 2021.
In his writ petition, Banerjee argued that the ED’s summons was “illegal and unconstitutional”. He has also said that the ED was trying to “harass and intimidate” him and other leaders of the Trinamool Congress.
This is not the first time that Banerjee has challenged the ED’s summons. In March 2022, he had filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court, challenging the validity of the ED’s summons issued to him in connection with a money laundering case linked to the coal scam in West Bengal. The Supreme Court had granted him protection from arrest and allowed him to travel abroad.