CBI summons Abhishek Banerjee even as SC stays Calcutta HC order to question him
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Kolkata: Trinamool Congress' national general secretary and MP Abhishek Banerjee claimed to have been summoned by CBI to appear at its Kolkata office on Tuesday, even as the Supreme Court on Monday stayed a Calcutta High Court order permitting the CBI and ED to question him in the matter of allegations made by expelled youth TMC leader Kuntal Ghosh.
Ghosh has been arrested in the teachers’ recruitment scam in West Bengal.
The summons were served a few hours after the Supreme Court issued an interim stay on the Calcutta High Court order to interrogate Banerjee. In the summons, he has been asked to appear before the agency officials at 11am on Tuesday.
Abhsihek Banerjee on Monday afternoon attached the copy of the CBI notice on Twitter. In the message, Banerjee has also accused BJP of the latter's desperation to "target" and "harass" him.
"In its desperation to 'harass' and 'target' me, BJP EXPOSES CBI & ED to CONTEMPT OF COURT! SC stayed the Calcutta HC's order in the morn that granted permission to the Central Agencies to summon me. Yet, the 'SUMMON' was HAND-DELIVERED today at 1:45 p.m. Grave State of affairs!" Banerjee said in the Twitter message.
On April 13, Calcutta High Court's single-judge bench permitted the CBI and ED to question Abhishek Banerjee over the allegations levelled by expelled youth Trinamool leader Kuntal Ghosh that the central agencies are putting pressure on him to name Banerjee in the multi-crore teachers' recruitment scam in West Bengal.
Banerjee challenged that order at the apex court. On Monday morning, the Supreme Court's division bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud stayed the high court's April 13 order till April 24, when the top court will take up Banerjee's plea.