The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Enforcement Directorate to withdraw lookout notices issued against Trinamool Congress General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee and his wife Ruchira Banerjee in connection with the money-laundering case related to the alleged coal scam.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia took the submission on record, while also observing that there are consequences when such circulars are issued against anyone, Bar and Bench reported.
“Mr SV Raju, Ld ASG states that permission have been granted from time to time. Fact remains that there are consequences of LOC and they were stopped at the airport. ASG in usual fairness states that if petitioner informs one week in advance necessary orders will be issued. In any case, the LOC shall stand withdrawn,” the apex court noted in its order.
Both Banerjee and his wife have been named as accused persons in a case of alleged illegal mining and theft of coal from the mines of Eastern Coalfields Limited in West Bengal’s Kunustoria and Kajora areas.
The court was hearing a batch of petitions on summons issued by the central agency to various political leaders directing them to come for interrogation to Delhi. The pleas before Court included petitions by K Kavitha and Nalini Chidambaram, which raised questions of whether a woman can be summoned by the ED for questioning to another city on short notice.
The plea by K Kavitha, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader and daughter of Telangana Chief Minister, K Chandrashekar Rao concerns a summons issued by the ED in the Delhi excise policy scam case while the petition by Nalini Chidambaram was filed in relation to the ED’s probe into the Saradha Chit fund scam.
The Supreme Court had on July 24 reiterated that citizens have a right to travel abroad, especially for medical reasons. The bench had also questioned the ED on why such a look out notice was being issued against Banerjee and his wife.
