CBI questions TMC leader Abhishek over school jobs scam

CBI officers questioned TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee, who appeared before them Saturday as part of the agency’s probe into the school jobs scam, for more than 9 hours before letting the young politician off.
Banerjee told newspersons keeping vigil outside the CBI’s office at Nizam Palace here, that the questioning was a waste of time for both him and the investigative agency’s officers, but that he “cooperated in all that was asked”.
“I was questioned for 9 and-a-half hours by CBI …Questioning was a waste of time for them (CBI officers) as well as for me,” said Banerjee after emerging from Nizam Palace. He claimed the real reason why he was called in was because, he had refused to be a “pet dog of Delhi’s bosses” and that is why he has been “targeted”.
He also alleged that while TMC leaders who were unwilling to bend were being harassed, BJP leaders who had been involved in various cases were allowed to go scot-free. Banerjee’s name cropped up in a complaint filed by Kuntal Ghosh, a local businessman and an accused in the school jobs scam, where he alleged that central investigating agencies were pressuring him to name Abhishek Banerjee in the case.
The West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew, entered the CBI office at 10:58 am and came out at around 8:40 pm,
“I don’t blame them (CBI officers), as they are acting on orders from the BJP. However, such harassment will not deter me from continuing my mass outreach campaign or put an end to our political battle with the BJP,” he said.
Reacting to the questioning of the MP and the accusations that the saffron party had a hand in it, the BJP state spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said, “The party has nothing to do with the CBI probe. If the TMC leaders have nothing to hide, why are they so bothered about being summoned and making such allegations?”. “I dare the CBI to arrest me if they have any proof of corruption against me. They have been probing many cases in Bengal for the last several years. They should arrest me if they have any proof against me,” Abhishek said.
The two-time TMC MP from Diamond Harbour has been questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) twice in the coal pilferage case in the agency’s office in the national capital in 2021 and also in Kolkata in 2022.