New Delhi: Patiala House Court on Thursday ordered physical presence of TMC national secretary Abhishek Banerjee’s wife Rujira Banerjee to Patiala House Court regarding the coal scam on October 12.
Notably, Rujira had moved Court demanding virtual presence to the quizzing there but Justice Pankaj Sharma asked her to be present physically by 2 pm on October 12.
It can be recalled that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had summoned Rujira on September 1 but citing pandemic Rujira had skipped the quizzing.
According to ED officials, Rujira was in the national capitals then and even visited a beauty parlor but didn’t respond to the ED’s summons. A similar mention is also demanded by Additional Solicitor General SV Raju in an ongoing case going in Delhi High Court.
Following the alleged ignorance the ED had moved Patiala House Court and the court had asked Rujira to be present before them on September 30.
However, on Thursday advocate Siddharth Luthra claimed that though Rujira could be present there physically but will be present virtually to which Justice Pankaj Sharma asked Rujira’s advocate to confirm Rujira’s physical presence on October 12 at 2 pm.
It is pertinent to mention that Abhishek was also quizzed by ED for nine hours on September 6.
On September 8 Abhishek was summoned for the second time by the ED and citing time issue Abhishek didn’t appear before ED.
On September 11 ED had summoned Abhishek for the third time and was scheduled to quiz the TMC national general secretary on September 21.
Notably, on September 17, Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee moved the Delhi High Court challenging Enforcement Directorate (ED) summons against him and his wife Rujira Banerjee in connection to alleged coal scam. In his petition Abhishek had sought the Court’s direction to quash the summons under Section 50 of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, (PMLA) 2002.
However, on February 21 morning, A CBI team visited TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee’s residence and summoned Abhishek’s wife Rujira Banerjee and his sister-in-law Menaka Gambhir over alleged connection in the coal scam.
After quizzing Rujira, the CBI officials said that they are not satisfied with her reply.
