Mamata Banerjee slams ED, says conspiracy to arrest Abhishek before Lok Sabha polls

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday attacked the Enforcement Directorate (ED), charging the central agency with attempting to plant evidence for arresting party leader Abhishek Banerjee before the Lok Sabha polls. The BJP, on the other hand, accused the ruling party of West Bengal of spreading canards against the country’s premier investigating agency. “I have never witnessed such a vindictive government in Delhi. I received a message recently that they will arrest him (Abhishek Banerjee) before the elections. They (ED) have downloaded files on his computers,” the TMC supremo said while addressing the party’s student-wing rally. “They think they are too smart with computers. But they should not underestimate us,” she said. Earlier in the day, while addressing the rally, Abhishek Banerjee also made similar claims. “ED officials were sent for a raid a day after I returned (from abroad). During the raid, they downloaded 16 files to a computer. Now, if the CBI visits the same place after another seven days and discovers those files, the smear campaign will begin,” he said. The ED had searched multiple places in Kolkata and its neighbourhood for over eight hours on August 21 in connection with its investigation into the school jobs scam. Among the places searched was an office of a private company in the posh New Alipore area in the southern part of the city. The Diamond Harbour MP said when he was travelling abroad for medical treatment, rumours were spread in West Bengal, claiming that he would not return to the country. “My surname is Banerjee. We know how to keep fighting with our heads held high without surrendering to Delhi. Fake news and lies are being circulated routinely using a section of the media,” he said. Abhishek Banerjee, the TMC national general secretary, was earlier questioned by central agencies in cattle smuggling and coal pilferage scam cases. He dubbed it as political vendetta by the BJP. The TMC leader, considered the second in command in the party, reiterated that if there is an iota of evidence of his wrongdoings, “I will walk to the gallows and hang myself.” The two-time MP, the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, said that those engaging in media trials either do not believe in the due process of law or do not have the patience for it. He asked: “Is this not ragging? Is this not an attempt to malign me?” Reacting to the remarks by the TMC leadership, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari claimed that they are now scared. “If the TMC leaders have nothing to hide, why are they afraid of ED and CBI? We have seen the entire TMC is neck-deep in corruption. So many TMC leaders are behind bars. The day is not far away when the entire top brass of the TMC will be behind bars,” he said. TMC secretary-general and state industry minister Partha Chatterjee was arrested by the ED for his alleged involvement in the school jobs scam after the recovery of huge cash from the residence of one of his close aides. The party received another jolt when the CBI arrested its Birbhum district president Anubarata Mondal in a cattle smuggling case.