New Delhi: The Calcutta high court on Thursday (May 18) allowed the Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation to question Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee, chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew, in the West Bengal school jobs scam case.
Abhishek had filed a petition seeking recall of an earlier court order allowing the agencies to question him. Justice Amrita Sinha on Thursday dismissed this petition, Hindustan Times reported.
The court also allowed the questioning of arrested youth TMC leader Kuntal Ghosh on his allegation of the central agencies putting pressure on him, the newspaper reported.
“Justice Sinha read out the operative part of the order in the courtroom. The bench has dismissed the applications of Abhishek Banerjee and Kuntal Ghosh. The court has also imposed a penalty of Rs 25 lakh on each on them,” Firdaus Shamim, high court advocate, said, according to Hindustan Times.
Two senior TMC leaders have been arrested in this case so far.
A series of investigations by a single-judge bench of the Calcutta high court and a retired-judge-led committee appointed by a division bench revealed serious corruption in recruitment to government schools in the state. Read details of the scam here.
Abhishek, his wife and his sister-in-law have previously been questioned by central agencies in relation to a coal smuggling scam case.