The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday summoned Trinamul Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee for questioning on June 13 in connection with alleged irregularities in appointments at state government-aided schools.

The Trinamul national general secretary was served with the summons soon after his wife Rujira returned home following a four-hour interrogation by the ED in a coal pilferage case, said sources close to him.

As the BJP has been branding the Diamond Harbour MP as the kingpin of all alleged scams — caol pilferage, cattle smuggling and anomalies in teacher recruitment — and rooting for his arrest, the fresh summons from the ED was just a matter of time.

Abhishek is currently touring south Bengal as part of Trinamul’s mass outreach programme.

The CBI had interrogated him for over nine hours on May 20 in connection with the alleged recruitment scam. On the same day, the ED raided the house of Sujay Krishna Bhadra.

Bhadra was later arrested and has been remanded in the ED’s custody till June 14. The investigators claim off the record that Bhadra is close to the Trinamul leader.

Abhishek had faced sleuths in the CBI and the ED several times, including once at the ED’s New Delhi headquarters in March, in different cases. However, there hasn’t been any official disclosure from the CBI or the ED on what they gathered from several rounds of interrogation.

“The agencies are not disclosing anything officially on matters related to Opposition leaders.... All that we are hearing are disclosures through selective leaks made to the media. As the contents of these leaks are strikingly similar to the allegations levelled by BJP leaders, the credibility of the agencies, especially the ED, is seriously eroded,” said a retired IPS officer.

Abhishek’s wife Rujira reached the ED’s office at the CGO Complex in Salt Lake around 12.30pm to face the interrogation.

A team of senior officers led by Pankaj Kumar, ED’s deputy director who had flown in from Delhi, questioned Rujira. Senior officers said her answers were written down.

Asked about the interrogation, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said Rujira would speak if she felt there was a need.

“Please, (since) it’s my family matter, I do not want to talk about it. Rujira is a mature girl. If needed, she will talk about it,” Mamata said.

Rujira had been questioned by the ED before also in the same case.

Senior ED officers said they had not spelt out any date when they would question Rujira again before she had left.

“The team will study her replies and check with those she had given on previous occasions and then draw up the next course of action,” said a source.