NEW DELHI: In a relief to Abhishek Banerjee, the Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear the plea of the TMC general secretary and his wife next week. In his plea, Banerjee challenged a Delhi High Court order that refused to quash the summons issued by the ED in a money laundering probe.
The ED had lodged a case under various 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 Kunustoria and Kajora areas.
Banerjee and his wife have also urged that they be probed at Kolkata and granted exemption from personal appearance. Rujira, Banerjee’s wife, has requested that she be allowed to appear through her lawyer in the trial court. The petitioners contended that the high court had erroneously dismissed their writ petition.
Rujira had a reasonable and legitimate expectation to be treated fairly by the investigating agency, the petition says, adding that the ED instead of responding to her repeated requests chose to prosecute her and compelled her to appear in Delhi.
“The impugned order fails to appreciate that the petitioners are permanent residents of Kolkata. It also fails to appreciate that the entire alleged cause of action and the place of alleged offence, is in the State of West Bengal.” Earlier, the HC dismissed their petition stating that allegations of mala fide intentions have to be proved by them and they should not be based conjectures and surmises.