The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the appeals filed by TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee and his wife Rujira Banerjee challenging the Enforcement Directorate’s summons in relation to a schools jobs scam case.
The duo, which claimed Calcutta to be its ordinary place of residence, challenged the ED summons as the couple argued that they should be summoned to Kolkata instead of New Delhi.
Justices Bela Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma delivered the verdict today, having reserved judgement on August 13.
The petitioners argued that the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 should apply as regards the summons, since the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002 does not specifically provide any procedure in that regard.
Hence, as per the summons, they can be asked to appear only in Kolkata (where the offence is alleged to have taken place) and not in New Delhi.
The ED argued that Section 50 PMLA is not pari materia (in a similar case) to Section 160 CrPC and the provisions of PMLA are to prevail.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal led arguments for Abhishek Banerjee, and Rujira Banerjee was represented by Senior Advocates Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Gopal Sankaranarayanan.
ED’s submissions were made by Additional Solicitor General SV Raju and Advocate Zoheb Hossain.
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