New Delhi Sep 30 PTI TMC MP Abhishek Banerjees wife Rujira Banerjee on Thursday appeared before a Delhi court through video conferencing in relation to a complaint filed by the Enforcement Directorate for allegedly refusing to join the probe in a money laundering case linked to an alleged coal scam in West BengalChief Metropolitan Magistrate Pankaj Sharma directed Rujira to appear before the court physically on October 12 while granting her exemption from the personal appearance for the dayIn her plea seeking exemption from personal appearance Rujira told the court that she was unable to travel with her child on short noticeThe court had directed Rujira to appear before it on September 30Her plea was opposed by EDs Special Public Prosecutor Nitesh Rana who told the court that she had to appear before the court physically and seek bail since she was accused of evading summonsThe judge granted the exemption for the day after noting that Rujira appeared through the video conferencing and her advocate Siddharth Aggarwal who appeared physically assured that she will appear before the court in person on the next day of the hearingIn its complaint the ED alleged that she refused to appear before the agency here despite repeated summons issued to herThe couple had earlier approached the Delhi High Court seeking quashing of summons issued to them by the ED for questioning in a money laundering case linked to an alleged coal scam in West Bengal saying they are residents of Kolkata and should not be compelled to join the probe in the national capitalThe plea is currently pending before the high court which is scheduled to further hear it on Friday Abhishek Banerjee nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and his wife have challenged the September 10 summons and also sought to direct the ED not to summon them for their appearance in Delhi and thereby not compelling them to join the investigation in the instant case hereThe 33-year-old MP represents the Diamond Harbour seat in Lok Sabha and is the national general secretary of the Trinamool Congress TMCThe plea before the high court also said that a greater degree of protection is granted to a woman under Section 160 of the CrPC which mandates that she shall not be required to attend any place other than where she residesIt claimed the repeated issuance of summons to Rujira Banerjee to appear before the ED was ex-facie illegal and mala fide and sought courts intervention before any coercive measures are resorted to by the agencyThe ED lodged a case under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act on the basis of a November 2020 FIR registered by the CBI that alleged a multi-crore coal pilferage scam related to Eastern Coalfields Ltd mines in the states Kunustoria and Kajora areas in and around AsansolLocal coal operative Anup Majhi alias Lala is alleged to be the prime suspect in the caseThe ED had earlier claimed that Abhishek Banerjee was a beneficiary of funds obtained from this illegal trade He has denied all chargesAbhishek Banerjee said ED has repeatedly summoned him and his wife for examination in person in Delhi without supplying a copy of the ECIR Enforcement Case Information Report and without specifying whether they are being summoned as witnesses or accused nor indicating the scope of the investigation being carried outHe said their examination may take place in Kolkata where ED has a functional and fully equipped zonal office PTI UK RKS RKS

New Delhi Sep 30 PTI TMC MP Abhishek Banerjees wife Rujira Banerjee on Thursday appeared before a Delhi court through video conferencing in relation to a complaint filed by the Enforcement Directorate for allegedly refusing to join the probe in a money laundering case linked to an alleged coal scam in West BengalChief Metropolitan Magistrate Pankaj Sharma allowed Rujiras plea seeking exemption from personal appearance for the day and directed her to appear before the court physically on Oct 12In her plea Rujira told the court that she was unable to travel with her child on short noticeThe court had directed Rujira to appear before it on September 30Her plea was opposed by EDs Special Public Prosecutor Nitesh Rana who told the court that she had to appear before the court physically and seek bail since she was accused of evading summonsThe judge granted the exemption for the day after noting that Rijira appeared through the video conferencing and her counsel who appeared physically assured that she will appear before the court in person on the next day of the hearingIn its complaint the ED alleged that she refused to appear before the agency here despite repeated summons issued to her PTI UK RKS RKS

New Delhi Sep 28 PTI The Enforcement Directorate told the Delhi High Court on Tuesday that the plea by TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee and his wife seeking quashing of its summons in a money laundering case linked to an alleged coal scam in West Bengal was premature and not maintainableThe ED argued that Banerjee and his wife Rujira are seeking quashing of the summons and not appearing before the probe agency for questioning and then claiming that they are not averse to the investigation and not coming in its wayIt is like saying I am not getting married to a woman I am only solemnising the marriage Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the ED submitted before Justice Yogesh KhannaThe court was hearing a petition by Banerjee nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and his wife challenging the September 10 summons issued to them and seeking to direct the ED not to summon them in Delhi as they are residents of West BengalThe couple asked by the agency to appear before it in person in Delhi on September 21 along with a voluminous set of documents has contended that they are residents of Kolkata and should not be compelled to join the probe hereThe 33-year-old MP represents the Diamond Harbour seat in Lok Sabha and is the national general secretary of the Trinamool Congress TMCSenior advocate Kapil Sibal representing the Banerjee couple said the ED was entitled to investigate under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLA and there was no dispute in itI dont know at this stage whether you wish to examine me as an accused or a witness Under section 160 of the CrPC you are obligated to interrogate me under the jurisdiction of police station where I am residing he arguedSibal countered the ED submission that the petition was premature as it is filed at the stage of issuance of summons saying how can it be premature since Banerjee has challenged the legality of summons and raised a legal issueIt is a question of great ego on their part and not mine The issue with them is how I can challenge government of India he contendedToday they are calling and summoning the couple to Delhi tomorrow they can ask it to come to Bombay or Kerala for questioning Sibal said adding is there any law applicable in this country or notResponding to this Mehta said Your lordship reads newspaper and watches TV Whenever law enforcement agencies go to Calcutta your lordship knows what happens They gherao officials and stone pelting is resorted to Their one line argument is that come to Calcutta if you can Sibal strongly objected to this contention and said dont make political arguments here dont talk of stones Make legal submissions Look at the way you have used law enforcing agenciesMehta shot back that he was only making legal arguments and not political onesThe court listed the matter for further arguments on September 30The high court had earlier refused to grant any interim relief to Banerjee and his wife in the matterThe ED has opposed the plea saying money laundering has national and trans-national ramifications and its investigation is not restricted to any police station or areaThe petitioners counsel had said he was not asking for any stay and he was only saying that they can do the questioning in West BengalHe had claimed that before the summons reached Banerjee it was leaked to the media and it seemed to be a mala fide and a completely fishing and roving enquiry and this is how the system is being used to denigrate usAdditional Solicitor General S V Raju and advocate Amit Mahajan also representing the ED had said under the PMLA there is no territorial jurisdiction for carrying out investigation and there are no territorial limits unlike under the CrPC where a police officer cannot go beyond his territorial jurisdictionThe plea has said a greater degree of protection is granted to a woman under Section 160 of the CrPC which mandates that she shall not be required to attend any place other than where she residesThe ED lodged a case under the provisions of the PMLA on the basis of a November 2020 FIR registered by the CBI that alleged a multi-crore coal pilferage scam related to Eastern Coalfields Ltd mines in the states Kunustoria and Kajora areas in and around AsansolLocal coal operative Anup Majhi alias Lala is alleged to be the prime suspect in the caseThe ED had claimed that the TMC MP was a beneficiary of funds obtained from this illegal trade He has denied all charges PTI SKV SA

New Delhi Sep 18 PTI A Delhi court on Saturday summoned TMC MP Abhishek Banerjees wife Rujira on a complaint filed by the Enforcement Directorate for allegedly refusing to join the probe in a money laundering case linked to an alleged coal scam in West Bengal Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Pankaj Sharma directed her to appear before the court on September 30 In its complaint the ED alleged that Rujira has refused to appear before the agency here despite repeated summons issued to her The couple on Friday approached the Delhi High Court seeking quashing of summons issued to them by the ED for questioning in the money laundering case saying they are residents of Kolkata and should not be compelled to join the probe in the national capital Banerjee nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and his wife have challenged the September 10 summons and also sought directions to the ED not to summon them for their appearance in Delhi and thereby not compelling them to join the investigation in the instant case here The 33-year-old MP represents the Diamond Harbour seat in Lok Sabha and is the national general secretary of the Trinamool Congress TMC The plea before the high court also said that a greater degree of protection is granted to a woman under Section 160 of the CrPC which mandates that she shall not be required to attend any place other than where she resides It claimed the repeated issuance of summons to Rujira to appear before the ED was ex-facie illegal and mala fide and sought courts intervention before any coercive measures are resorted to by the agency The ED lodged the case under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act on the basis of a November 2020 FIR registered by the CBI that alleged a multi-crore coal pilferage scam related to Eastern Coalfields Ltd mines in the states Kunustoria and Kajora areas in and around Asansol Local coal operative Anup Majhi alias Lala is alleged to be the prime suspect in the case The ED had earlier claimed that Abhishek Banerjee was a beneficiary of funds obtained from this illegal trade He has denied all charges Abhishek Banerjee said the ED has repeatedly summoned him and his wife for examination in person in Delhi without supplying a copy of the ECIR Enforcement Case Information Report and without specifying whether they are being summoned as witnesses or accused nor indicating the scope of the investigation being carried out He said their examination may take place in Kolkata where ED has a functional and fully equipped zonal office PTI UK ZMN ZMN