ED Grills Abhishek Banerjee For Over 11 Hours In Bengal School Recruitment Case

'Even if you slit my throat, I won't cower,' says Abhishek Banerjee after over eight hours of ED questioning in the teacher recruitment scam probe.

Banerjee refrained from directly alleging political pressure behind the investigation but launched a sharp attack on the BJP.

Source : PTI

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• Aide Sumit Roy faces arrest warrant in separate land scam.

Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee struck a defiant note on Monday after being questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for nearly 20 hours over two days in connection with the teacher recruitment scam probe. Speaking to reporters after leaving the agency's office in Kolkata, Banerjee said he had been questioned for around 8.5 hours on Sunday and 11 hours on Monday. Asserting that he would continue cooperating with investigators, he said he would appear before the agency whenever summoned and would not be intimidated by the ongoing probe.

Defiant After Questioning

Addressing the media outside the ED office, Banerjee refrained from directly alleging political pressure behind the investigation but launched a sharp attack on the BJP.

"I won't say whether there is political pressure or not. The less said about the BJP, the better," he said.

The TMC leader accused the BJP of attempting to weaken his party and alleged that it was involved in post-poll violence. Stressing that he would not be cowed down, Banerjee declared that even extreme intimidation would not deter him from facing the investigation.

The ED has been probing alleged irregularities in the recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff in West Bengal government-sponsored and aided schools.

Aide Faces Arrest Warrant

Banerjee's remarks came on the same day a court in Paschim Medinipur issued an arrest warrant against Sumit Roy, considered a close aide of the TMC leader, in connection with a separate land scam case.

Police said the warrant was issued after repeated attempts to trace Roy failed. Investigators informed the court that he could not be located and was allegedly not cooperating with the probe.

Roy moved the Calcutta High Court on Monday seeking anticipatory bail. His plea was mentioned before the bench of Justice Joy Sengupta and is expected to be heard later this week.

According to police, Roy's name surfaced during the questioning of former Medinipur MLA Sujoy Hazra, who was arrested earlier in the land scam investigation. Search operations were carried out at multiple locations, including Banerjee's Kalighat residence and Roy's in-laws' home in Hooghly district, after investigators tracked his last known mobile phone location. However, officials said the accused could not be found.