Defence Minister Rajnath Singh wrote back explaining that the selection of tableaux for the Republic Day parade. (File)The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) not to take any coercive action for two months against Sumit Roy, who is one of the witnesses in a coal pilferage case and is secretary to the TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee. The ED had earlier summoned Roy to New Delhi in connection with a money-laundering case linked to the coal pilferage case. Roy challenged the summons in court. On Tuesday, however, the high court also reprimanded the ED in connection with the case probe.
The court asked, “Why is the ED not interrogating him (Sumit Roy) at Nizam Palace or elsewhere? Why is it silent after sending summons twice?”
In November last year, the Calcutta High Court directed the ED not to take any coercive action against Roy for six weeks.
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The court also directed Roy to cooperate with the ED by appearing before it via video-conferencing or be physically present at its office in Kolkata when summoned by the agency. The court, in its order on November 9, directed the ED to file an affidavit-in-opposition and the petitioner to file his reply to that.
“However, no coercive measure should be taken against the petitioner in connection with the investigation in the above referred case for a period of six weeks from the date hereof,” Justice Shivakant Prasad said.
The central agency had previously questioned the Diamond Harbour MP in connection with the case.
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