Today, the Supreme Court rejected the appeals filed by TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee and his wife, Rujira Banerjee, which sought to challenge the Enforcement Directorate's summons related to a school jobs scam case.

The Banerjees, who asserted that Calcutta was their usual place of residence, contested the ED's summons on the grounds that it required their attendance in New Delhi

The matter was heard before the bench consisting of Justices Bela Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma, who had reserved judgment on August 13.

The petitioners contended that the summons should be governed by the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, as the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, does not specify a procedure for such matters. They argued that, according to the Code, they could only be required to appear in Kolkata, where the alleged offence occurred, rather than in New Delhi.

The Enforcement Directorate argued that Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) is not equivalent to Section 160 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), and that the provisions of the PMLA should take precedence.

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal represented Abhishek Banerjee, while Rujira Banerjee was represented by Senior Advocates Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Gopal Sankaranarayanan. For the Enforcement Directorate, submissions were made by Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju and Advocate Zoheb Hossain.

Case Title: ABHISHEK BANERJEE AND ANR. Versus DIRECTORATE OF ENFORCEMENT, Crl.A. No. 2221-2222/2023 (and connected case)

Click here to Read/Download the Judgement