NEW DELHI: West Bengal leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari on Friday sent a legal notice to chief minister Mamata Banerjee after she made allegation against him and Union home minister Amit Shah over coal smuggling case.Adhikari demanded Mamata to prove the allegations made by her within 72 hours, adding that failure to do so would compel him to initiate appropriate civil and criminal proceedings for defamation.
In a social media post on X, Adhikari said that chief minister’s allegations were made in a desperate attempt to divert attention from the ongoing investigation by Enforcement Directorate.“Today, CM Mamata Banerjee, in a desperate attempt to divert attention from an ongoing ED investigation, made absolutely baseless defamatory allegations against me, linking me to an ‘alleged’ coal scam alongside the Hon’ble Union Home Minister. These reckless statements, laced with personal insults, were made publicly without any shred of evidence. Such unsubstantiated claims not only tarnished my reputation but also undermine the dignity of public discourse,” Adhikari said.“Today, through my Advocate, I have served a Legal Notice demanding that she provide all purported evidence within 72 hours. If she fails to do so, I will pursue appropriate Civil and Criminal actions for Defamation,” he added.This comes after Mamata alleged that Amit Shah and Suvendu Adhikari were involved in the alleged coal scam and claimed that money from the scam was routed to Amit Shah through Adhikari.The chief minister made these remarks while addressing a public gathering amid protests against the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raid in Kolkata’s I-PAC office on Thursday.In the notice, the leader of opposition termed the chief minister’s statements as “reckless, baseless, and wholly unsubstantiated,” accusing her of making defamatory allegations without producing any evidence.“It has come to the knowledge of my client that on 08.01.2026 and again on 09.01.2026, you have made reckless, baseless, and wholly unsubstantiated allegations against my client by publicly insinuating that my client, along with the Union Home Minister of India, is involved in an alleged coal scam. You have further claimed that you are in possession of evidence in support of such allegations,” the notice read.“On the contrary, my client states that such statements appear to be part of a calculated and sinister design to divert public attention from serious issues concerning you, your family members, and your political party, which are presently engaging public scrutiny…,” it added.This comes after Mamata, while addressing a gathering, said, “You know who is sitting in the Election Commission. He was the Cooperation Department Secretary of Amit Shah. I have no issues with that. If Gyanesh Kumar is vanishing votes, why will I stay quiet? If the voter’s rights are snatched, I will snatch your rights.”“TMC MPs have been dragged mercilessly when they were protesting in Delhi. All the agencies have been grabbed. I challenge them that they came to power in Haryana and Bihar forcefully. In one more state, they come to power forcefully. Now they are trying to do this in Bengal. Who gets the coal scam’s money? Amit Shah gets it. The money goes through Suvendu Adhikari. The money goes through BJP leader Jagannath Chattopadhyay to Suvendu Adhikari. Suvendu Adhikari sends it to Amit Shah,” she added.Meanwhile, the Bhartiya Janata Party Mahila Morcha on Friday held a protest march from Rabindra Sarovar to Deshapriya Park against Mamata over her recent alleged interference in a raid conducted by the Enforcement Directorate on Kolkata’s I-PAC office on Thursday.
