Supreme Court rejects TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee’s plea against ED summons in money laundering case

The Supreme Court of India (SC) has, on September 9, rejected Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Abhishek Banerjee and his wife's plea challenging the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) summons.

The ED summons relate to a money laundering case regarding alleged recruitment irregularities in West Bengal schools, ANI reported.

Banerjee and his wife Rujira Banerjee, argued that they should be summoned to Kolkata instead of New Delhi in the alleged job scams investigation, the report said. The duo had said that the ED's questioning should happen at their ordinary place of residence, which is Kolkata city, PTI reported.

SC Bench of Justices Bela Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma in their verdict today had reserved judgement on August 13.

Banerjee is under investigation by the ED for multiple cases, including alleged recruitment irregularities in West Bengal schools and a multi-crore coal pilferage scam involving Eastern Coalfields mines in Kunustoria and Kajora areas near Asansol, as per the report.

Background on West Bengal SSC ‘scam’

The Calcutta High Court in April directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate into the irregularities surrounding the 2016 selection process for school jobs in West Bengal.

A division bench comprising justices Debangsu Basak and Md Shabbar Rashidi asked the CBI to submit a report on its findings and directed the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) to initiate a fresh recruitment process.

The HC had nullified appointments of all teaching and non-teaching staff hired in 2016, as per PTI. More than 23 lakh candidates appeared for the State Level Selection Test (SLST) 2016 for 24,640 vacant posts. A total of 25,753 appointment letters were issued.

The action followed petitions filed by candidates who had passed the SLST 2016 but were not appointed to jobs.

Retired Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who led a court, had earlier ordered the CBI investigation into alleged irregularities in the hiring process. The high court also decided to terminate the jobs of 36,000 teaching and non-teaching staff after discovering irregularities.

(With inputs from ANI and PTI)