‘Abhishek Banerjee won’t be summoned by ED till July’

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday agreed before the Supreme Court to not summon Abhishek Banerjee, Trinamool Congress national general secretary, till July. The matter will be next heard on July 10.

The Bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal are hearing the petition by Banerjee which challenges ED’s summons for questioning him in Delhi on July 10.

The Apex Court took note of the fact that Abhishek is an MP and a candidate from the Diamond Harbour constituency in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

It was also noted that both he and his wife Rujira Banerjee have continued to cooperate with the Central investigative agency. Senior counsel Kapil Sibal, appearing for Banerjee, stated that Abhishek was last called by ED in March 2022 and the agency should be directed not to call him till the completion of polls. The polls in Diamond Harbour are scheduled to take place on June 1.

According to a news agency, Abhishek and Rujira had filed an appeal against the Delhi High Court’s order dismissing their petition against ED summons in March 2022.

They had challenged that they should not be asked to appear in New Delhi but in their place of domicile in Kolkata. Meanwhile, in an SLP filed by ED against the interim order granted by Calcutta HC directing that Abhishek’s personal secretary Sumit Roy be summoned and questioned only in Kolkata and no coercive steps can be taken, the Court noted that since Roy has not been summoned after the interim order, therefore the matter will be listed along with other connected matters and heard on July 10. In the meantime, interim orders will

continue to stand.