Coal Scam: Ready For Death Penalty If Allegations Proved, Says Abhishek Banerjee

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and Trinamool Congress (TMC) general secretary Abhishek Banerjee was on Friday questioned by Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials for nearly seven hours as part of an investigation in the coal smuggling case.

Abhishek, considered by many to be Mamata’s heir apparent, reached the agency’s office at Salt Lake at 11 am and left around 6 pm.

A team of five officers of the ED had travelled to Kolkata to question Abhishek.

This is the third time that the TMC leader has been questioned by ED.

“If allegations against me are proved right then I am ready to accept the death penalty,” Abhishek said after facing ED on Friday.

Abhishek’s sister-in-law Menoka Gambhir has also been sent a notice to appear before ED at its New Delhi office on September 5.

Earlier, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had quizzed Abhishek’s wife Rujira Banerjee,

It was the CBI which registered a case in November 2020, alleging that illegally mined coal worth several thousand crores of rupees is being sold in black market by a racket operating in the western parts of Bengal, where Eastern Coalfields Limited runs several mines.

The ED later initiated a parallel investigation, under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) based on CBI’s FIR.