Less than a day after the Calcutta High Court dismissed Abhishek Banerjee’s petition challenging the court’s previous order granting permission to central agencies to include him in a probe concerning the state Primary Teachers’ Recruitment Scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) served a notice of appearance to the Trinamul Congress MP asking him to remain present at the agency’s Nizam Palace eastern regional headquarters in Calcutta by 11 am, Saturday.

Banerjee, who was campaigning for the TMC’s Naba Jowar Yatra mass outreach programme in Bankura, decided to return to the city by Friday night, stalling his campaign till May 21. He, however, maintained that he would return to Bankura and resume his campaign on Monday from exactly where he had left off.

The leader left for Calcutta after finishing his road show at Sonamukhi in Bankura where he was seen standing atop his moving vehicle greeting a massive crowd which had gathered to meet the leader and delivered a rousing speech before the crowd where he promised to return to Bankura after facing the CBI.

Meanwhile, later in the evening, Abhishek’s previously scheduled public meeting at Chak Patrasayar in Bankura was addressed by Trinamul chairperson Mamata Banerjee in virtual mode from her party office adjacent to her south Calcutta residence in Kalighat.

The notice, which was served to Banerjee at around 2.30 pm on Friday under section 160 of CrPC (requiring attendance as a witness), was signed by Sanjay Kumar Samal, Deputy Superintendent of Police, CBI. It stated that Banerjee was summoned in connection with a case dated 9 June, 2022 under sections 120B, 420, 467, 468, 471 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code and sections 7, 7A and 8 of the prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

On Thursday Justice Amrita Sinha of the Calcutta High Court dismissed Abhishek Banerjee’s challenge petition and upheld a previous order of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay allowing central agencies to rope in Banerjee for probing allegations of coercion against the agencies leveled by Kuntal Ghosh, one of the primary accused in the teachers’ recruitment scam. The court also imposed a penalty of Rs 25 lakhs each against both Banerjee and Ghosh for “wasting court’s time” with frivolous appeals.

“I have received a summon from the CBI to appear before them tomorrow, on 20th May '23 for examination. Despite not being given even a day’s prior notice, I will still abide by the summon. I will give my full cooperation during the course of the investigation,” Abhishek tweeted within an hour after receiving the CBI notice.

Banerjee, though, has already expressed his resolve to move the Division Bench of Calcutta High Court and even Supreme Court against judge Sinha’s order. An attempt to impress the Chief Justice’s division Bench on Thursday to hear his appeal on an urgent basis was turned down by the court leaving Banerjee with no choice but to wait for the court to resume operations after its summer break.

At the Sonamukhi rally, Banerjee said: “The BJP wants to disrupt the Naba Jowar Yatra, but they are mistaken. They are having sleepless nights looking at our outreach and the people’s spontaneous response to our campaign. They are unable to tolerate the support we are getting from thousands of people on the ground.”

“I will not bow down before outsiders from Delhi. They tried to frame me in Saradha and then Narada cases but failed. They tried to drag me into the coal and cattle scams but didn’t find success. Now they have targeted me in the recruitment scam. This political vendetta won’t work for long,” he added.

Reiterating his pledge to take Bengal’s fight for its dues to Delhi, Banerjee said: “You don’t need to fight for me, I will fight my own battles. You need to fight for yourself, your rights which are being denied by the Centre. You should fight for your MNREGS money, money for rural housing, for roads and other social schemes which the BJP has held back. All I need is your support to fight this battle.”

Lashing out at the probe agencies and asking their officers to shed pretence and fight elections against the TMC, Banerjee declared: “I challenge you to make my interrogation public, before the media. If you find even a fraction of evidence, present it before the people and then you take me to the gallows and hang me. Stop this façade of calling me in the name of interrogation on every flimsy ground you find. I dare you to arrest me if you can.”

Mamata Banerjee, while addressing the Patrasayar rally in virtual mode, called the notice a “ploy to stop Trinamul’s Naba Jowar campaign”. “The BJP is in fear of Abhishek’s programme. But they will not be able to stop this campaign by creating hindrances before Abhishek. If they stop him, I will join the campaign and visit the districts,” the TMC chief said.

“Our fight to oust the BJP from this country will continue. The BJP has lost Karnataka. It will lose in other states as well and will only be left with UP and Gujarat,” she added.

Bengal Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari took the opportunity to hit Abhishek below the belt. “He tried every trick up his sleeve to avoid facing the CBI. He moved Supreme Court and had the Bench changed. Then he moved Division Bench for an urgent appeal against the Single Bench order. The court found no merit in that. I would assume that the CBI was forced to send him the notice in the wake of these developments,” he said.

“He doesn’t need to hang himself or anything. He simply needs to join the probe and cooperate. Let him do just that. What is he afraid of?” Adhikari sounded sarcastic.