The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the appeals filed by Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee and his wife Rujira Banerjee challenging the Enforcement Directorate’s summons in relation with the school job scam case.
The order was passed by the Bench of Justice Bela Trivedi and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma. Earlier on August 13, the Apex Court had reserved its verdict on August 13.
The petitioners claimed in their petition that Calcutta was their ordinary place of residence. They challenged the ED summons insofar as it required their attendance at New Delhi.
They argued that the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 should apply as regards the summons, since the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002 did not specifically provide any procedure in that regard.
Hence, as per the summons, they can be asked to appear only in Kolkata (where the offence was alleged to have taken place) and not in New Delhi.
The ED argued that Section 50 PMLA was not pari materia to Section 160 CrPC and the provisions of PMLA were to prevail.
Abhishek was represented by Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, while Rujira was represented by Senior Advocates Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Gopal Sankaranarayanan. Submissions for ED were made by Additional Solicitor General SV Raju and Advocate Zoheb Hossain.
On May 26, 2023, the Apex Court upheld the Calcutta High Court order of April 13, 2023, which directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to interrogate national General Secretary of Trinamool Congress Abhishek Banerjee in the West Bengal school-for-job scam case.
The Vacation Bench led by Justice P.S. Narasimha, however, stayed the cost of Rs 25 lakh imposed by the High Court. The top court of the country observed that these were not issues affecting the common citizens.
Appearing for Banerjee, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal contended that these were staged and managed matters. He alleged that these scams were being generated, adding that the state of West Bengal was also filing an SLP in the matter.