No coercive action against Abhishek Banerjee till July 31: ED tells Calcutta HC

Kolkata, July 26

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday informed the Calcutta High Court that it will not adopt any coercive action, including arrest, against Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee till July 31 in relation to the central agency’s ongoing probe in the West Bengal school recruitment case.

The matter was listed for hearing on Wednesday at the single- judge bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh.

The hearing was now been postponed to July 31.

The matter was referred back to the bench of Justice Ghosh after he recused from hearing on Monday following certain technical objections raised by ED relating to the matter being heard at his court.

The matter related to whether the central agencies will summon and interrogate Banerjee in the case case, the original order for which was given by Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay.

Later the matter was transferred to the court of Justice Amrita Sinha, who also upheld the earlier order by Justice Gangopadhyay.

Banerjee’s counsel then approached the Supreme Court against the order by Justice Sinha.

However, the division bench of Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice P.S. Narasimha refused to interfere in the matter and instead advised that it was open for Banerjee to move the high court with a petition under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

Accordingly, Banerjee's counsel moved the single-judge bench of Justice Ghosh.

Recently, the Central Bureau of Investigation had qAbhishek Banerjee in connection to the case.

Later, he was also summoned by the ED for questioning in the matter which he avoided.