A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed at the Calcutta High Court seeking a probe into the assets of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s relatives.The court is likely to hear the matter on September 6.
The petition was filed by advocate Arijit Majumdar at the Division Bench of Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj. However, neither Mamata Banerjee nor her nephew and TMC national general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee, have been named in the PIL.
Responding to the PIL, CM Banerjee at a rally in Kolkata dubbed the allegations of an exponential rise in her assets and that of her relatives in the last few years as “baseless”. “We are two sisters and six brothers. All live separate and have their own families and their own earnings. We only meet during Durga Puja, Rakshabandhan, Bhaifonta and other festivals,” she said.
She challenged the petitioner(s) to approach any international court in the matter.
She added, “I am entitled to a monthly pension of Rs 1 lakh as a former MP. But I never availed that pension. As the CM and an MLA, I am getting at least Rs 3.5 lakh per month but I never take that money as well. I have written several books. I earn royalties from my books. You can go to book fairs to find that my books are the best sellers. That is not my fault. Why I am selling books, that is also their (BJP) jealousy.”
She entered politics to serve the society and not steal, the CM further said.
The petitioner has demanded a probe on the alleged increase in the assets of the CM’s two brothers — Kartik Banerjee and Babun Banerjee — and her sister-in-law, Kajari Banerjee.
A Trinamool Congress councilor at Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Kajari Banerjee, is married to Kartik Banerjee.The petitioner also demanded that probe be conducted by central agencies.“There are charges that the CM’s family members bought several properties at prices much lower than the prevailing market rates. All these matters need to be probed,” advocate Tarunjyoti Tiwari, who filed the PIL on behalf of the petitioner, said.The matter was admitted in the court and is likely to be heard on September 6.
