Bengal: CBI summons wife of Mamata's nephew Abhishek Banerjee in coal smuggling scam

West Bengal, Feb 21: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Sunday summoned the wife of TMC leader and MP Abhishek Banerjee, who is the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, in a coal smuggling case, source said.

A team of investigating officers from CBI reached TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee’s residence to serve notice to his wife to join the probe.

The CBI move comes close on the heels of Banerjee lodging a defamation case against Union home minister Amit Shah. A designated MP/MLA court in West Bengal issued summons to Shah on Friday to appear either personally or through a lawyer before it on February 22.

In a press note, Abhishek Banerjee’s lawyer Sanjay Basu claimed that Shah had made certain defamatory statements against the TMC MP on August 11, 2018 at a rally of the BJP at Mayo Road in Kolkata.

This is for the first time that the CBI has summoned Abhishek Banerjee’s wife in the coal smuggling case in which the probe agency conducted multiple raids across Bengal last wee

Earlier, CBI searches were underway this month at 13 locations in four districts of poll-bound West Bengal in connection with the coal theft scam, officials said.

They said the searches are going on in Purulia, Bankura, Pashchim Bardhaman, and Kolkata, they said.

The searches included premises of Amiya Steel Pvt Ltd in Kolkata and Bankura and that of Joydeb Mandal, the alleged deputy of the the suspected kingpin of the racket Anup Manjhi.

The CBI had registered an FIR in November last year against Manjhi alias Lala, Eastern Coalfield Ltd General Managers Amit Kumar Dhar (of then Kunustoria area now Pandaveswar area) and Jayesh Chandra Rai (Kajor area) besides ECL Chief of Security Tanmay Das, Area Security Inspector, Kunustoria Dhananjay Rai and SSI and security in-charge Kajor area Debashish Mukherjee.


Also Read: CBI raids diffident places in Bengal in connection with coal scam


It is alleged that Manjhi is involved in illegal mining and theft of coal from leasehold mines of ECL in Kunustoria and Kajora areas, they said.

The CBI acted on information from “reliable sources” that indicated illegal excavation and theft of coal in the leasehold area of ECL in “connivance” with officials of ECL, CISF and Railways.

Elections for 294 Assembly seats in West Bengal are likely to take place in April-May this year.