Abhishek Banerjee Informs ED of His Inability to Appear for Questioning Today

Trinamool Congress's national general secretary and the party Lok Sabha member Abhishek Banerjee on Tuesday has forwarded a letter to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) expressing his inability to report to the central agency's Salt Lake office for the purpose interrogation in relation to the multi-crore school recruitment case in West Bengal.

He was supposed to appear at the ED office on Tuesday by 11 a.m.

In his letter addressed to ED's assistant director Mithilesh Kumar Mishra, Banerjee expressed his inability to adhere to the summons in view of his ongoing mass outreach programme and his engagement with the preparation for the forthcoming elections for the three-tier panchayat system in the state. He said he will not be able to adhere to the summons and be present for interrogation.

"It is not out of place to mention that most of the information/documents sought for are already available with appropriate government authorities/departments. Be that as it may, the information/ documents requisitioned by your office in the summon under reference date to a decade, which are voluminous in nature and I am in the process of collating such information/documents.

"Having said so, I would like to seek clarification from your office pertaining to the scope and purport of your ensuing investigation pursuant to which the summon under reference has been issued upon me," said Banerjee's letter, a copy of which is available with IANS.

At the same time, he concluded by saying that "he is ready and willing to extend his cooperation with the investigation process within the permissible limits of law".

On June 8, Banerjee's wife Rujira Narula Banerjee was questioned by ED for four hours in connection with the multi-crore cattle smuggling case. On the same evening ED served a notice to Abhishek Banerjee asking him to be present at the ED office on Tuesday for questioning in connection with the school recruitment case. That evening only he announced his decision of not appearing for questioning and finally on Tuesday he officially intimated the same to the central agency.