TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee moves Delhi HC challenging ED summons, seeks further examination in West Bengal

New Delhi [India], September 17 (ANI): All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Friday knocked on the door of the Delhi High Court challenging Enforcement Directorate (ED) summons issued to him and seeking court direction to quash the summons issued to him on September 10, 2021, in connection with coal mining scam.
Petitioner Banerjee along with his wife Rujira Banerjee sought the issuance of direction to the ED to not summon them to New Delhi and carry out any further examination in Kolkata, West Bengal.
According to the plea, the ED has on September 10, issued a fresh summons to AITC general secretary under section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 requiring his personal appearance along with a voluminous set of documents on September 21, 2021, in New Delhi.
The petitioners alleged that he has serious apprehensions about the fairness of the investigation being conducted by the ED owing to the fact that the respondent is adopting a pick and choose attitude with respect to certain persons and is giving undue benefit and protection to complicit individuals and in return extracting false, baseless and malicious statements from them.
The respondent agency is also selectively leaking information to the media with the intent of harming the reputation of the petitioners and encouraging a media trial, the details of which are further elaborated in the accompanying petition, in order to falsely embroil the petitioners in baseless and scandalous allegations, plea read.
The petition stated that the petitioner Abhishek Banerjee is a politician hailing from the state of West Bengal and is presently serving as a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha, having been elected from the Diamond Harbour, South 24 Parganas constituency in West Bengal and hence is a respected individual and a prominent member of the Indian polity and society and has two minor children.
In this particular alleged illegal coal mining case, in the state of West Bengal, the CBI had already interrogated Abhishek Banerjee. (ANI)