'Unaware of reason': Wife of Mamata's nephew on CBI summons in coal case

Day after Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee’s wife Rujira Banerjee was asked to join the CBI probe in case pertaining to allegations of coal smuggling, she said that she’s unaware why she has been called for questioning.

Rujira has told the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) she can meet the officers between 11 am and 3 pm on Tuesday, and asked the agency to send its team to her residence.

“Though I am unaware of the reason for me being called for questioning or the subject matter of the investigation, you may visit my residence as per your convenience between 11 am and 3 pm tomorrow, i.e. 23 February, 2021,” she said in her letter to CBI. “You are requested to kindly inform me your schedule,” said Rujira.

Her response came a day after a team of CBI officials visited the residence of Abhishek Banerjee, nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and TMC’s Diamond Harbour MP, on Sunday to deliver the summons. But Rujira was not present.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, a team of CBI officers also visited the residence of Rujira’s sister Menaka Gambhir in Kolkata to examine her in connection with the coal pilferage case. A notice was served to her on Sunday, officials said.

At 2pm today, the CBI served a notice in the name of my wife. We have full faith in the law of the land. However, if they think they can use these ploys to intimidate us, they are mistaken. We are not the ones who would ever be cowed down. pic.twitter.com/U0YB6SC5b8

— Abhishek Banerjee (@abhishekaitc) February 21, 2021

Abhishek Banerjee had on Sunday publicly shared the notice sent to his wife, saying that he has full faith in the law of the land. “If they think they can use these ploys to intimidate us, they are mistaken. We are not the ones who would ever be cowed down,” he said.

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The CBI had registered an FIR in November last year against the alleged kingpin of the pilferage racket 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. It is alleged that accused Manjhi Lala is involved in the illegal mining and theft of coal from leasehold mines of ECL in Kunustoria and Kajora areas, sources said.