'Total Waste Of Time': TMC Leader Abhishek Banerjee After 9-hour Grilling By CBI

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday questioned West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew and Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Abhishek Banerjee for over nine hours. The question was in relation to the Kuntal Ghosh letter case. He said that the questioning was a complete waste of time.

#WATCH | Kolkata, West Bengal: TMC National General Secretary and MP Abhishek Banerjee comes out of the CBI office after over nine hours of questioning in the Kuntal Ghosh letter case. pic.twitter.com/jaEXT6lXDc

— ANI (@ANI) May 20, 2023

After coming out of the Kolkata CBI office, he interacted with the media and said, "I will continue the fight and win." He continued, "I will not be a pet dog of Delhi. They are not able to suppress us."

Banerjee's name cropped up in a complaint filed by Kuntal Ghosh, a local businessman and an accused in the school jobs scam, where he alleged that central investigating agencies were pressuring him to name Abhishek Banerjee in the case.

TMC leader to move top court

The TMC leader has decided to move the Supreme Court challenging the Calcutta High Court, which had cleared the decks for his questioning. Before appearing at the CBI office, he wrote a letter to the central agency informing them that he is moving Supreme Court challenging the High Court order over his questioning.

In his letter he wrote, "Please note that I have preferred a Special Leave Petition before the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India, thereby challenging the order dated 18.05.2023 (passed by Calcutta High Court)."

He added that this would be "mentioned for urgent hearing before the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India" on Monday or "as and when the business of the Hon'ble Court shall permit."

Enforcement Directorate conducts raid at Sujay Krishna's house

Earlier in the day, the Enforcement Directorate had also conducted a raid at the residence of Sujay Krishna Bhadra, who is considered to be close to TMC's top brass, in connection with its probe into the school jobs scam. 

While the Central Bureau of Investigation is probing the criminal aspect of the scam, the ED is looking into the money trail involved in the alleged irregularities in school recruitment.

(With inputs from agencies)