Rujira Banerjee, the wife of All India Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, appeared before officials of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Kolkata on Thursday in connection to an alleged coal smuggling scam. Rujira was reportedly stopped at the Netaji Subhash Chandra International Airport earlier this week by immigration officials, under a lookout notice issued by the central investigation agency. She was handed a notice to appear at the CGO Complex on June 8th. Two officials from New Delhi, including Deputy Director Pankaj Kumar, arrived in Kolkata to question Rujira. The ED has prepared a list of questions for Rujira, which reportedly runs to three pages.
Rujira appeared at the CGO Complex around 1230 hours, accompanied by her lawyers and amid tight security arrangements. The ED officials present included a female official. This follows comments by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who criticized the ED and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for allegedly harassing her family members and denying Rujira the opportunity to go abroad to meet her ailing mother. Banerjee said the ED had no right to issue a summons at the airport without prior warning and labelled the officials’ actions as nothing but harassment.
