The CBI on Monday questioned Maneka Gambhir, the sister-in-law of Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee for more than three hours in a coal smuggling case. Abhishek is the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Rujira Banerjee, the wife of Abhishek Banerjee, is likely to be quizzed on Tuesday. The CBI had on Sunday sent a notice to her for questioning. According to sources, Rujira has agreed to meet the CBI officials on Tuesday.
Two women officers of the agency questioned Gambhir at her residence in Patrasayar area on Monday and reportedly asked questions regarding some “significant” transfers of funds from Kolkata to her two accounts in Bangkok. She was also asked to share details about a third account in London.
The CBI had registered an FIR in November last year against Anup Majhi, alias Lala, the alleged kingpin of the coal scam, Eastern Coalfield Ltd General Managers Amit Kumar Dhar and Jayesh Chandra Rai apart from ECL Chief of Security Tanmay Das, Area Security Inspector, Kunustoria Dhananjay Rai and SSI and security in-charge Kajor area Debashish Mukherjee.
In a related development, the Enforcement Directorate sent a notice to Priyadarshini the daughter of Bengal Minister Firhad Hakim asking her to appear before it in relation to alleged irregularities in the transactions of her bank accounts, sources said.
Meanwhile, CPI(M) Politburo member Md Salim on Monday questioned the timing of heightened CBI and ED activities in scam cases particularly at a time when the Left is scheduled to hold its rally at the historic Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata on February 28.
“Nothing will be done to anyone and no investigation will reach its logical conclusion because they are all hand-in-glove… it is only being done to divert attention from the Left rally and the footfall at Brigade … the same thing was done ahead of the 2019 general elections when the Left had organised a huge rally. On the same day the CBI started raiding the house of then Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajib Kumar only to let him off later,” Salim said.
