The Supreme Court on Monday refused to interfere with Calcutta High Court's decision upholding the CBI-ED probe against Trinamul MP Abhishek Banerjee's in the teachers' recruitment scam, but said he was free to file a fresh petition before the high court for quashing the criminal cases registered against him.

The apex court said it would not interfere with the high court single judge’s order upholding the earlier directive passed by another single judge directing the CBI-ED probe into the scandal on the basis of a PIL.

However, it added that Abhishek, who is also the national general secretary of the party, was free to file a fresh plea before the high court for quashing the criminal cases registered against him.

“If the order of the single judge is read in entirety, it emerges that in the earlier part, the single judge has held that there is no reason to interfere with ED investigation. Reading the order in its entirety, it is clear that the single judge has duly applied her mind to the order. We are inclined not to interfere with the impugned order since the consequence of doing so would be to stifle the investigation. We leave it open to the petitioner all remedies available in law, including Section 482 of the CrPC,” a bench of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice P.S. Narasimha said in an order.

The apex court was dealing with Abhishek’s special leave petition (SLP) against the order passed by Justice Amrita Sinha of Calcutta High Court on May 18 dismissing the applications moved by Abhishek and Kuntal Ghosh, challenging the earlier order passed on April 13 by Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay directing the duo to face the probe by the CBI and the ED.

The earlier orders were passed on a PIL filed by the leader of the Opposition in the Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, against which the present SLP was filed by Abhishek.

“Should the petitioner use other remedies, the observations contained in the order dated 13 April 2023, shall not come in the way,” the bench said while referring to certain adverse observations made by Justice Gangopadhyay against the Trinamul leader.

The apex court also directed the deletion of the Rs 25 lakh fine imposed by Justice Sinha on Abhishek.

The bench passed the order after hearing senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appearing for Abhishek and additional solicitor general S.V. Raju for the ED.

During the arguments, Singhvi submitted that the ED had got no material evidence against Abhishek, yet it chose to call him for questioning six times particularly when he was campaigning for elections in the remote areas of Darjeeling.

Alleging deliberate harassment, Singhvi said Abhishek's wife had been stopped twice at the airport.

Besides his wife, his children and sister-in-law were also detained by the ED, the senior counsel said.

Raju, however, countered his rival counsel's arguments, saying Rs 350 crore had exchanged hands in the teachers’ recruitment scam.