The Calcutta High Court on September 22 directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) not to take any coercive action against Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee at this stage of investigation in connection with the school job scam.
Justice Tirthankar Ghosh, however, did not quash the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), equivalent to an FIR, filed by the ED which had references to Mr. Banerjee. The Court pointed out that ED can continue with the investigation and if required can summon the Trinamool leader, but no coercive steps can be taken against Mr. Banerjee on the basis of the ECIR.
The ED had filed an ECIR after the arrest and subsequent interrogation of Sujay Krishna Bhadra alias ‘Kalighater Kaku (Uncle from Kalighat)’ in July this year. The ECIR mentions that Mr. Bhadra looked after the finance related matters of Mr. Banerjee and was very close to him. ED had arrested Mr. Bhadra in connection with the scam in May this year. On September 13, Mr. Banerjee was questioned for about nine hours in the scam.
TMC hails high court relief to Abhishek Banerjee
The interim relief to Mr. Banerjee was welcomed by Trinamool Congress. “The court has restrained ED from harassing Abhishek further. He is helping in the probe and we know he will continue to assist the investigators,” Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said. Mr. Ghosh added that the order shows the Central agencies have been hounding and harassing Mr. Banerjee.
The leaders of Opposition pointed out that the Court has not cancelled the ECIR.
State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Choudhury said that one should wait and the trial will continue till he (Mr. Banerjee) is acquitted by the court.
CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty said he was surprised that the Trinamool leader needs “so many rakshakabach (protective shield)“ from the court if he is not guilty.
On Thursday, the counsel of the ED approached another bench of the High Court seeking protection to the agency officers from any coercive steps by Kolkata Police. The police have registered a general diary in connection with an incident during a search at the office of a company Leaps and Bounds, when an ED officer downloaded several files on a computer. The agency later in an undertaking has told the Court that the downloading of files was an error and will not be used in the investigation process in any way.
