CBI Interrogates Abhishek Banerjee’s Wife for 7 Hrs in Matter of Illegal Coal Mining

CBI LAW INSIDER

Debangana Ray

Published on June 15, 2022 at 17:52 IST

An eight member team of CBI arrived at Trinamool Congress national General Secretary, Abhisek Banerjee’s ‘Santiniketan’ home in Kolkata for the questioning of his wife, Rujira.

She was questioned for the second time by the probe agency regarding the illegal coal mining case. Previously the CBI had questioned her on March 2021.

In the meantime, the ED had summoned the couple for questioning at Delhi to which the couple moved court seeking the questioning to take place at Kolkata.

The CBI had arrived along with women officers for questioning at 11:25 am where they questioned Rujira for 7 hours over two phases.

The CBI questioned her about two of her overseas bank accounts, one at the Barclay’s Bank of London and the second one at Kasikorn Bank in Thailand. The agency further questioned her on a 1.5 million Baht transaction done on November 3, 2018.

The agency also got hold of some digital evidence by the Income tax department including the transcript of a call between Niraj Singh, accountant of one of the accused in the case, Anup Majhi and the former OC of Bankura Police Station, Ashok Mishra.

The call was involved discussions as to money was to be transferred into the accounts of beneficiaries. While Ashok Mishra was arrested in April, last year, Niraj Singh is still absconding.

According to ED, an estimate of nearly Rs. 1352 Crore was generated from illegal coal mining business. The amount was then distributed between various coal mafias, politicians and other officers.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is looking into the money laundering aspect of the case, has sent Rujira a notice in order to question her.

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