By PTI
KOLKATA: The CBI on Thursday summoned TMC MLA of Canning Purba constituency, Saokat Molla, in connection with its probe into the coal smuggling scam, an official of the agency said.
Mollah has been asked to appear before CBI sleuths at the agency’s city office by 11am on Friday, he said.
“We sent him a letter on Wednesday asking him to appear before our officers on May 27 morning. He has been asked to bring with him documents related to bank transactions, passbooks, passport, other identity proofs and papers related to his business,” the officer said.
“Mollah’s name sprung up during interrogation of others involved in the scam,” he said.
The coal scam, according to the CBI, had originated in Asansol of Paschim Bardhaman district and spread to other parts of the state, including Nadia, Purulia and to Canning in South 24 Parganas district.
Several arrests have been made in the case thus far.
Speaker Biman Banerjee on Thursday slammed the CBI for summoning TMC legislators and ministers in various cases “without seeking his permission”.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) recently summoned state ministers Partha Chatterjee and Paresh Chandra Adhikari in connection with a school appointment scam, and MLAs Paresh Pal and Shaukat Mollah as part of its probe into post-assembly poll violence cases in the state.
“The CBI is summoning MLAs in various cases, but they are not informing me. It is a norm that the speaker should be informed if the central agency summons a member of the House,” he said.
Earlier last year, Banerjee had summoned CBI and ED officials seeking an explanation on why no permission had been taken from his office before submitting charge sheets against legislators for their alleged involvement in ponzi scam cases and the Narada bribery case.
TMC leader Kunal Ghosh, in a similar vein, had said that the probe agencies always inform the Speaker of Lok Sabha of any such action against MPs, but the “practice is not followed in case of Bengal MLAs”.
