A CBI team on Sunday visited TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee’s residence in Kolkata to serve notice to his wife Rujira Banerjee in relation to the coal smuggling case.

Rujira, spouse of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew, wasn’t present at the Kalighat residence when the investigating officials came upon.

She has been served a notice to be a witness in the ongoing coal pilferage case probe, ABP Ananda reported. On the other hand, a section of Bengali media has reported that CBI sought to question Rujira after discovering links of monetary transaction between her and the main accused of the coal case.

No official communication has been made either by Rujira or her husband Abhishek and the main motive behind CBI’s action remains unclear.

CBI has demanded her time today and said that the questioning could be done at her home itself. She won’t be required to visit the agency’s Kolkata headquarter at Nizam Palace.

Reportedly, a telephonic conversation has taken place between Rujira and the CBI officials who visited her home.

The CBI notice to Abhishek’s wife comes days after he had lodged a defamation case against Amit Shah. The Calcutta High Court has summoned the Union Home Minister to appear before itself physically or through a lawyer on Monday.

Meanwhile, earlier this week on Friday, CBI had raided 13 locations across four districts of West Bengal in connection with the multi-crore coal scam, in which a businessman called Anup Majhi alias Lala stands as one of the main accused.

The raids were carried out at the premises of Amiya Steel Pvt Ltd in Kolkata and Bankura and that of Joydeb Mandal, the alleged deputy of the suspected kingpin of the racket Manjhi, news agency PTI reported. The investigating agency had conducted raids in Paschim Bardhaman and Purulia as well.

It is alleged that Manjhi is involved in illegal mining and theft of coal from leasehold mines of ECL in Kunustoria and Kajora areas, the CBI said.

The CBI acted on information from “reliable sources” that indicated illegal excavation and theft of coal in the leasehold area of ECL in “connivance” with officials of ECL, CISF and Railways.

With PTI inputs