Abhishek slams ED for spreading concocted stories

PTI, Kolkata, Aug 7, 2023 :  TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee Monday slammed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for allegedly spreading “concocted stories” against him to the media regularly “to serve their political masters”.

It is “disheartening” to see that ED officials have an “unparalleled talent” for disseminating “fake stories” so as to malign him, Banerjee said.

“It is truly disheartening to behold the presence of inept and incompetent individuals within the ranks of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), who possess an unparalleled talent for disseminating concocted tales to the media on a bi-weekly basis – all in the service of their political benefactors,” Banerjee, who is presently abroad for treatment, tweeted.

He mocked the probe agency for spending taxpayers’ money and consistently failing to present “substantive evidence” before the court, “thereby clearly neglecting their responsibility to serve the nation”.

“One cannot help but feel empathetic towards these unfortunate and frustrated souls. This leaves us no room for surprise as to why ED’s conviction rate is a mere 0.5 per cent,” he tweeted.

Banerjee, who is the nephew of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, had on several previous occasions accused the central agencies of harassing him and his family.

The TMC MP was grilled by CBI officers at its Kolkata office for over nine hours on May 20 in connection with the agency’s investigation into the primary school jobs scam in the state.

In June the ED had served a notice to Banerjee summoning him to appear before it in regard to the investigation into the irregularity in the appointment in primary schools. He had declined to comply with the summons citing his busy engagement with a mass outreach campaign of the TMC.