Kolkata: TMC national general secretary and Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the coal case. He has been asked to appear before the ED office in Kolkata on Friday (September 2).
The ED lodged a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, based on a November 2020 FIR registered by the CBI 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.
On Monday (August 29), Abhishek took on the BJP and Amit Shah’s son, and BCCI secretary Jay Shah at a rally. BJP leaders are the biggest beneficiaries of the cattle smuggling case, senior TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee alleged on Monday. “They talk about cattle smuggling scams. It is the BJP leaders who are the biggest beneficiary of this scam. The ill-gotten money was transferred to New Delhi to BJP leaders,” he alleged. “Why doesn’t Amit Shah ask the BSF how the cattle are smuggled? Is the money going to Delhi directly? This is not a cattle scam, this is a scam of the home ministry. The BSF operates under the home ministry. How are cattle smuggled if the BSF is doing its job properly? The Union home minister is answerable to the nation,” he claimed.
Banerjee also targetted Jay Shah after a video clip of him appearing to turn down an offer to wave the national flag after India beat Pakistan in a thrilling cricket match went viral. “We saw yesterday how after India’s victory against Pakistan, the home minister’s son, Jay Shah, refused to hold our national flag. And these BJP leaders claim to be the architects of ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’,” the TMC MP from Diamond Harbour said.
(With Agency inputs)