Coal scam: ED questions TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee for eight hours

After being summoned by the Central economic intelligence agency, TMC MP from Diamond Harbour, Abhishek Banerjee, arrived at an ED office in Delhi's Jamnagar House in the morning and he left the facility after 8 pm.

While leaving the ED office, Abhishek Banerjee said, "If BJP thinks it can frighten us by doing all these, if they think we will accept defeat like other political parties, we will fight more vigorously, and we will go to every state where BJP has killed democracy."

"BJP's tyranny will be defeated. Let BJP put all its might, vigour, threat and resources, mind my words, their resources are going to fall flat," Banerjee told the media.

"We will never sell our spines to these autocrats. Forget about other parties, TMC will defeat BJP in next elections," he added.

Sources in the ED said that Abhishek's statement had been recorded while Banerjee claimed that he had completely cooperated with the investigation.

Days ago, the ED had served notices to Abhishek Banerjee and his wife, Rujira Naroola Banerjee, asking them to appear at the agency's Delhi office on Sept 6 and Sept 1 respectively.

Citing her two infants' health concerns amid pandemic, Rujira Banerjee skipped the summon and requested the investigators to question her at her Kolkata residence.

Besides ED, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is also probing the recently unearthed Bengal-based illegal coal mining and smuggling scam, and months ago it quizzed Rujira Banerjee as well as her kins in connection with the case.