Recruitment case: Abhisjek Banerjee seeks relief from CBI questioning

Kolkata, May 11 (IANS) Trinamool Congress' national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Thursday filed a fresh appeal before the Calcutta High Court seeking relief from CBI questioning in the case relating to a letter by expelled youth Trinamool leader Kuntal Ghosh alleging that the central agencies were putting pressure on him to name Banerjee in the alleged multi-crore recruitment scam in state-run schools in West Bengal.

The fresh plea has been filed before the single-judge bench of Justice Amrita Sinha, where the case was transferred from the bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay following a Supreme Court order last month. The hearing in the matter is likely to be held on Friday.

During the first hearing in the matter at her bench, Justice Sinha had observed that Banerjee should cooperate with the probe.

"No one is above investigation. Please cooperate in the process of investigation. What is the problem there," Justice Sinha had told Banerjee's counsel.

To recall, Kuntal Ghosh had sent a letter to a local police station and the judge of a special CBI court claiming that the central agencies were putting pressure on him to name Abhishek Banerjee in the alleged recruitment scam. On being pointed out by the central agencies, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay had authorised the CBI to question Banerjee in the matter.

Banerjee had then approached the Supreme Court against the order following which the apex court had put an interim stay on Justice Gangopadhyay's order for a specific period which has expired.