PIL seeks probe into assets of Mamata Banerjee's family members

Kolkata, Aug 29

A public interest litigation (PIL) was filed at a division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Monday, demanding probe into the assets of different family members of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

The petition was filed by advocate and state BJP leader, Tarun Jyoti Tiwari at the division bench of Calcutta High Court's Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj. However, in the PIL, neither Mamata Banerjee nor her nephew and Trinamool Congress' national general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee was named.

The PIL was filed demanding a probe on the rise in the property of the chief minister's two brothers, Kartik Banerjee and Babun Banerjee and her sister-in-law, Kajari Banerjee. Currently a Trinamool Congress councilor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), Kajari Banerjee is married to Kartik Banerjee.

The PIL has been admitted by the court. In the PIL, the petitioner also pleaded that the investigation on the assets and property of the chief minister might be done by any central agency like Enforcement Directorate (ED) or Income Tax (I-T) department.

Tiwari stated that once Kunal Ghosh, currently the state general secretary of Trinamool Congress in West Bengal and party spokesman, said that much of funds embezzled in Saradha chit fund had gone to the kitty of the family members of the chief minister. "There are even charges that the family members of the chief minister purchased several properties at prices much lower than the prevailing market rates. All these matters need to be thoroughly probed," Tiwari said. Names of certain companies purportedly owned by them have also been named in the PIL.

In her reaction, the chief minister said that anyone has the right to approach the court. "I ask them to approach any international court in the matter," she said.

Already a PIL had been filed at the same division bench on the sudden rise in the assets and properties of 19 Trinamool Congress leaders including seven ministers of West Bengal government. The division bench has also asked ED to be a party in the PIL.

However, three ministers of the state government namely state municipal affairs & urban development minister and Kolkata mayor, Firhad Hakim, state forest minister, Jyotipriyo Mullick and the state cooperation department minister, Arup Roy, had made an appeal to the bench to review its decision to include ED in the PIL.