A CBI team visited the residence of Trinamool Congress MP and Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee on Tuesday to examine his wife Rujira Banerjee in the coal pilferage case, officials said.

The central agency team, led by SP Biswajit Das, questioned Rujira for around an hour when they tried to ascertain the details of her bank transactions, suspecting a connection to the proceeds of the illegal coal excavation money.

According to a report by the Bengali news portal The Wall, the CBI officials asked straightforward and basic questions to Rujira. They wanted to know about her passport, details about her foreign trips and foreign bank accounts.

Reportedly, in the next round of questioning the investigating agency is planning to question Rujira about some particular transactions that took place in her bank account in Bangkok, Thailand.

The CBI’s visit to Abhishek’s residence comes after Rujira told the central agency that she will be available for examination between 11 am and 3 pm on February 23, replying to a notice that the sleuths had hand-delivered her on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee made a sudden visit to the residence of her nephew in south Kolkata’s Harish Mukherjee Road minutes before the CBI team landed there.

On Monday, the CBI examined Rujira’s sister Menaka Gambhir in connection with the same case.

Two woman officers of the CBI visited Gambhir’s residence off EM Bypass and had examined her for nearly three hours.

The developments come months ahead of the assembly elections in the state with Trinamool Congress alleging it to be a political vendetta.

The CBI notice to Abhishek’s wife came 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.

The CBI on November 28 last year carried out a massive search operation in a number of locations across four states — West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh — after registering a case against one Anup Majhi alias Lala.

It is alleged that Lala, the alleged kingpin of the scam, is involved in illegal mining and theft of coal from leasehold mines of ECL in Kunustoria and Kajora areas, sources said.