CBI summons wife of W Bengal CM’s nephew for questioning

India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) yesterday summoned the wife of West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress leader and lawmaker Abhishek Banerjee, who is the nephew of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, in a case relating to coal smuggling, officials of the probe agency said. 

This is for the first time that the CBI has summoned Abhishek Banerjee's wife in the coal smuggling case in which the probe agency conducted multiple raids across West Bengal last week.

The CBI's move comes close on the heels of Abhishek Banerjee lodging a defamation case against Indian Home Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Amit Shah.

A designated court in West Bengal issued summons to Shah on Friday last asking him to appear either personally or through a lawyer before it on February 22.

"At 2pm today, the CBI served a notice in the name of my wife. We have full faith in the law of the land. However, if they think they can use these ploys to intimidate us, they are mistaken. We are not the ones who would ever be cowed down," Abhishek Banerjee tweeted.

CBI officials said the searches were on in Purulia, Bankura, Pashchim Bardhaman and Kolkata districts.  The searches included premises of Amiya Steel Pvt Ltd in Kolkata and Bankura and that of Joydeb Mandal, the alleged deputy of the suspected kingpin of the racket Anup Manjhi.

The CBI had registered an FIR in November last year against Manjhi, Eastern Coalfield Ltd General Managers Amit Kumar Dhar and Jayesh Chandra Rai (Kajor area) besides ECL Chief of Security Tanmay Das, Area Security Inspector, Kunustoria Dhananjay Rai and SSI and security in-charge Kajor area Debashish Mukherjee.

Manjhi is allegedly involved in illegal mining and theft of coal from leasehold mines of ECL in Kunustoria and Kajora areas, they said.

The CBI's summon to Abhishek's wife is set to heat up the political scenario in West Bengal where fresh assembly poll are likely to take place in April-May.