ED lookout notice: Abhishek Banerjee's wife Rujira stopped from boarding flight to UAE

Kolkata: Rujira Banerjee, wife of senior Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee, was allegedly stopped from boarding a UAE-bound flight citing a "lookout" notice by the Enforcement Directorate that asked her to appear before them on June 8, her lawyer said.

Sources said Rujira reached Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport with her two children around 7 am to board the flight.

"She was stopped at the immigration, citing a lookout notice issued by the ED in a case. A Supreme Court order says there is no bar on her foreign visits," one of her lawyers told PTI.

The lawyer said she had informed the ED on Saturday about her travel plans and a gave a copy of her tickets to the agency.

"Now she has been stopped. She was also handed over a copy of a summons dated June 5 asking her to appear before the ED office in Kolkata on June 8. She has now returned home," he said.

Repeated attempts to get a version from the airport and ED authorities elicited no response.

A press statement issued by her office also claimed there is a Supreme Court order which says there are no foreign travel restrictions on the couple. "Rujira Banerjee had visited USA from October 5 to October 18 and there was no objection from the ED then.

"Rujira had not been stopped from travelling abroad during the ongoing investigation by the ED. She has not been called for interrogation except once in June last year, which she duly complied with," the statement said.

ED claims that two companies, Leaps and Bound PVT LTD and Leaps and Bound Management Services LLP, are connected with Abhishek Banerjee and his family. These firms, the ED claims, allegedly received protection funds amounting to Rs 4.37 crore from a construction company through the accused, who are being probed in the coal smuggling case.

Abhishek Banerjee’s father, Amit Banerjee, is one of the directors of Leaps and Bound Pvt Ltd. His wife Rujira Banerjee is a director of Leap and Bound Management Services Limited along with his father.

Last year, the ED had questioned Rujira Banerjee in connection with a coal pilferage scam. The CBI had also questioned her in 2021 in the same case.

It is alleged that illegal mining of coal was carried out at leasehold mines of Eastern Coalfields' in Kunustoria and Kajora areas near Asansol in West Bengal. Investigations have hinted towards financial transactions of Rs 1,300 crore, the bulk of which went to several influential people as per CBI.

The probe revealed that the money was deposited in foreign bank accounts of these influential people through hawala.

Inputs from PTI