Kolkata: 8 hours pass, CBI continues to grill Abhishek Banerjee in teachers’ scam

Abhishek Banerjee arrived at the CBI office at 10.55 am on Saturday, and the questioning process started at 11.20 am

Kolkata: Over eight hours have passed since the CBI officers started questioning Trinamool Congress national General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee at the agency’s Nizam Palace office here, and the grilling process is still continuing.

Banerjee arrived at the CBI office at 10.55 a.m. on Saturday, and the questioning process started at 11.20 a.m. Although CBI insiders remain tight-lipped about the proceedings, it is learnt that the initial questioning started with a five-page questioner but more questions surfaced in due course of time.

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The initial questioner was prepared by the central agency based on the statements given by expelled Trinamool Congress leader Kuntal Ghosh, who’s an accused in the case related to the alleged scam in the recruitment of teachers in state-run schools.

Banerjee’s name surfaced in the school recruitment case after Ghosh gave letters to a local police station and the judge of a special CBI court, accusing central agencies of putting pressure on him to name Banerjee in the case.

Meanwhile, the counsels of Abhishek Banerjee have filed a special leave petition at the Supreme Court, challenging the decision of the Calcutta High Court’s single- judge bench of Justice Amrita Sinha giving go-ahead to the central agencies to question Banerjee in connection with the alleged recruitment scam.

On Saturday morning, Banerjee himself gave a letter to the CBI informing the latter about the special leave petition filed at the apex court.

While passing the order on Thursday, Justice Sinha had also imposed a penalty of Rs 25 lakh each on Banerjee and Ghosh for wasting the time of the court.

On Friday, Banerjee’s counsel approached two division benches of the high court challenging the single-judge bench order and also appealed for a fast-track hearing in the matter. However, the plea was turned down.