Mamata visited Abhishek before CBI arrived

Kolkata, Feb 23 (SocialNews.XYZ) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday visited her nephew and Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee's residence before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) interrogation of his wife Rujira in connection with the illegal coal mining scam.

The Chief Minister made an unscheduled visit to Santiniketan, Abhishek's residence in Harish Mukherjee Road in south Kolkata, while on her way to the state secretariat Nabanno. She spent about 10-minutes with the family and was seen emerging from the building accompanied by Abhishek's daughter, her grand niece.

Soon after Banerjee left the place, the federal investigation agency officials reached Abhishek's residence to question Rujira Banerjee who was served with a CBI notice on Sunday.

Earlier, Rujira had responded to the CBI communication on Monday saying she was ready to be quizzed by the agency. She also asked the CBI investigators to visit her Harish Mukherjee Road residence between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Tuesday. Rujira also said that she was unaware of the reason for which she was being called for questioning and the matter of the investigation.

A five-member team of CBI's anti-corruption branch had gone to Abhishek Banerjee's south Kolkata residence on Sunday afternoon and served the notice. The Trinamool second-in-command's wife was summoned for interrogation by the central agency sleuths. Rujira was not present at the residence when the CBI team had arrived.

The CBI had also summoned Rujira's sister Menka Gambhir for interrogation. A CBI team, along with female officials, arrived at Menka's high-rise residential complex at Panchashyar on Monday, at around 12 noon. The team, led by Umesh Kumar, had to wait at the main entrance for some time till they got the permission. Menka stays at Upohar Luxury Complex (Tower-3) near Kolkata's EM Bypass. The interrogation went on for about three hours, sources said.

Source: IANS