The Enforcement Directorate has summoned Trinamul Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee and his wife Rujira for another round of questioning in New Delhi in the alleged multi-crore coal pilferage case in Bengal.

Senior ED officials said the Diamond Harbour MP and his wife had been asked to appear at the ED’s headquarters in New Delhi by early next week when a team would question them separately.

The decision to summon chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and Rujira comes within five days of Delhi High Court dismissing the couple’s plea for exemption from the appearance before the investigators in the capital since they are residents of Bengal.

Mamata said in the Assembly on Wednesday that central investigating agencies had been summoning several Trinamul leaders, including Malay Ghatak and Anubrata Mondal. “They are being summoned on baseless charges. No one can stop Trinamul in this manner,” Mamata said.

The ED lodged a case under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, based on a November 2020 FIR registered by the CBI that alleged a multi-crore coal pilferage scam related to Eastern Coalfields Limited mines in the state's Kunustoria and Kajora areas in and around Asansol, PTI adds.

Local coal operative Anup Majhi alias Lala is alleged to be the prime suspect in the case.

The ED had claimed that the 34-year-old TMC parliamentarian was a beneficiary of funds obtained from this illegal trade. He has denied all charges.