ED has no jurisdiction to summon to Delhi: Abhishek Banerjee tells HC

Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee on Wednesday contended in the Delhi High Court that the Enforcement Directorate has no power to summon him to the national capital in connection with the money laundering case linked to an alleged coal scam in West Bengal.

Banerjee, represented by senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, told Justice Bhatnagar that it was not his case that there should be no investigation under the money laundering law, but the agency should come to Kolkata to interrogate him.

The submissions were made on a petition by the MP and his wife seeking the quashing of summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) last year.

Sibal contended that the ED, which has a regional office in Kolkata, cannot summon any person to any place in India and emphasised that it was the courts in Kolkata that had jurisdiction over the case.

"There is no provision on summoning persons anywhere they want for the purpose of investigation.. How can you tell a person, who does not know whether he is an accused or a witness, to come to Delhi and give evidence?" he submitted.

The senior lawyer submitted that the summonses for appearance on various dates were delivered to the accommodation allotted to Banerjee here on account of being a Member of Parliament but that was not his "residence".

"In between I appeared. I came to Delhi and I was interrogated for several hours. I was kept in office," he added.

The judge listed the case for further submissions on January 10.

Last year, the ED had argued that the petition by Banerjee and his wife was premature and not maintainable.

It had opposed the plea saying money laundering has national and trans-national ramifications and its investigation is not restricted to any police station or area.

In the petition, Banerjee, who is the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, and his wife have challenged the September 10 summons issued to them and sought a direction to the ED not to summon them for their appearance in Delhi since they are residents of West Bengal.

The couple, who was asked by the agency to personally appear before it in Delhi on September 21, along with a voluminous set of documents, have contended that they are residents of Kolkata and should not be compelled to join the probe here.

The 33-year-old MP represents the Diamond Harbour seat in Lok Sabha and is the national general secretary of the Trinamool Congress (TMC).

The high court had earlier refused to grant any interim relief to Banerjee and his wife in the matter.

The ED lodged a case under the provisions of the PMLA on the basis of a November 2020 FIR registered by the CBI that alleged a multi-crore coal pilferage scam related to Eastern Coalfields Ltd mines in the state's Kunustoria and Kajora areas in and around Asansol.

Local coal operative Anup Majhi alias Lala is alleged to be the prime suspect in the case.

The ED had claimed that the TMC MP was a beneficiary of funds obtained from this illegal trade. He has denied all charges.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)