New Delhi: CBI officers questioned TMC chief Abhishek Banerjee, who appeared earlier than them Saturday as a part of the company’s probe into the varsity jobs rip-off, for greater than 9 hours earlier than letting the younger politician off. Banerjee instructed newspersons maintaining vigil exterior the CBI’s workplace at Nizam Palace right here, that the questioning was a waste of time for each him and the investigative company’s officers, however that he “cooperated in all that was asked”. “I was questioned for 9 and-a-half hours by CBI. Questioning was a waste of time for them (CBI officers) as well as for me,” mentioned Banerjee after rising from Nizam Palace. He claimed the true cause why he was known as in was as a result of, he had refused to be a “pet dog of Delhi’s bosses” and that’s the reason he has been “targeted”.
He additionally alleged that whereas TMC leaders who have been unwilling to bend have been being harassed, BJP leaders who had been concerned in varied circumstances have been allowed to go scot-free. Banerjee’s title cropped up in a grievance filed by Kuntal Ghosh, an area businessman and an accused within the faculty jobs rip-off, the place he alleged that central investigating businesses have been pressuring him to call Abhishek Banerjee within the case.
The West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew, entered the CBI workplace at 10:58 am and got here out at round 8:40 pm, “I don’t blame them (CBI officers), as they are acting on orders from the BJP. However, such harassment will not deter me from continuing my mass outreach campaign or put an end to our political battle with the BJP,” he mentioned.
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Reacting to the questioning of the MP and the accusations that the saffron get together had a hand in it, the BJP state spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya mentioned, “The party has nothing to do with the CBI probe. If the TMC leaders have nothing to hide, why are they so bothered about being summoned and making such allegations?”.
“I dare the CBI to arrest me if they have any proof of corruption against me. They have been probing many cases in Bengal for the last several years. They should arrest me if they have any proof against me,” Abhishek mentioned. The two-time TMC MP from Diamond Harbour has been questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) twice within the coal pilferage case within the company’s workplace within the nationwide capital in 2021 and in addition in Kolkata in 2022.
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CBI officers are believed to have requested the TMC chief on Saturday why Kuntal Ghosh has alleged that he was being pressured to call him, in line with sources. Abhishek is believed to have said that he has no data of the explanations behind Ghosh’s assertion.A senior CBI officer instructed PTI that the TMC chief, was questioned in three shifts.
As her nephew was being questioned by the CBI, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted that the centre’s “agency-raj” has made her job of working the state difficult. “The agency-raj of an authoritarian government at the centre makes our task challenging, but millions (all) over the country are with us in our march,” Banerjee mentioned on Twitter.
Before driving to the probe company’s workplaces, the TMC chief wrote a letter to the CBI informing it of his resolution to maneuver the Supreme Court difficult the High Court order which permits investigative businesses CBI and ED to query him.”At the very onset, I state that I am rather shocked to find that the notice under reference was served upon me … Providing me less than a day’s time to comply,” he wrote.
Stating that he was within the midst of a two-month-long state-wide yatra to attach with the individuals of West Bengal, he mentioned that whereas he wished to cooperate with the businesses and therefore was abiding with the summons, it ought to be famous that he had “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)”.
Earlier within the day, the Enforcement Directorate performed a raid on the residence of Sujay Krishna Bhadra, thought of to be near TMC prime brass, in reference to its probe into the varsity jobs rip-off, an official of the central company mentioned.
The official mentioned the raid which was nonetheless on, was carried out on the Behala home of ‘Kalighat er Kaku’ (Kalighat’s uncle) as he’s popularly recognized. On March 15, Bhadra appeared earlier than the CBI for his alleged involvement in unlawful appointments made in several state-run and state-aided colleges in West Bengal.
While the Central Bureau of Investigation is probing the legal facet of the rip-off, the ED is trying into the cash path concerned within the alleged irregularities at school recruitment.
Abhishek Banerjee, who was on the marketing campaign path in Bankura in western Bengal, had rushed again to Kolkata Friday evening to reply the summons despatched by the central investigative company. The investigative company’s summons got here inside 24 hours of the Calcutta High Court dismissing on Thursday, a petition filed by Banerjee looking for recall of a earlier courtroom order, which mentioned that investigative businesses corresponding to CBI and ED might interrogate him within the instructor recruitment rip-off
