“Perturbed, Rattled And Scared”: Abhishek Banerjee On Coincidental ED Summons

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India] : Trinamool Congress (TMC) General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee took a dig at the central government following his summon by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on October 3, the same day when the TMC is scheduled to hold an agitation in Delhi against pending dues from the central government.

Posting the draft of the summons from his personal handle on ‘X’, Abhishek Banerjee took a swipe at the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled central government saying that this reveals those who have been “truly perturbED, rattlED and scarED!”

“Now, today yet again they have served me another summons to appear before them on a day when the protest agitation for West Bengal’s rightful dues is scheduled in Delhi on 3rd Oct. This stark revelation unequivocally exposes those who are truly perturbED, rattlED and scarED!” the TMC General Secretary said in a post on ‘X’ on Thursday.

“Earlier this month, the ED summoned me on a day coinciding with an important coordinating meeting of #INDIA in Delhi. I dutifully appeared and complied with the served summons,” Banerjee pointed out in an earlier post.

“…in exercise of the powers conferred upon me under sub-section (2) and sub section (3) of section 50 of the said Act (Prevention of Money Laundering Act), I require the said Abhishek Banerjee the CEO of Leaps and Bound Limited to appear before me at my office on 03/10/2023 at 10:30 AM along with the documents as per schedule attached,” the ED summons read.

Banerjee was earlier summoned by the ED in connection with the alleged teacher recruitment scam in September. The day coincided with the opposition INDIA bloc’s first Coordination Committee meeting in Delhi. Abhishek, being a member of the INDIA Coordination Committee had to skip the meeting owing to his summon at the ED’s Kolkata office.

Following his questioning last time, Banerjee said, “I have done my duty, I have come to the ED office, joined the investigation, faced the questions, answered to the best of my abilities to the questions that were asked to me.”

The summons to Banerjee came weeks after the central probe agency conducted raids in the office of ‘Leaps and Bounds Pvt Ltd’ which the federal agency alleged was “used for making dubious transactions running into crores of rupees.” The ED claimed that Banerjee is the chief executive officer of the company.