india

Updated: Mar 26, 2019 00:07 IST

The Election Commission (EC) on Monday sought a report on the alleged fight at the Kolkata airport after Trinamool Congress lawmaker Abhishek Banerjee’s wife reportedly prevented customs officials from checking her check-in baggage upon landing from abroad.

“We have sought a factual report from the district election officer of North 24 Parganas on the matter,” West Bengal’s additional chief electoral officer, Sanjay Basu, told reporters in Kolkata.

The Bharatiya Janata Party and other opposition parties have protested the alleged refusal of Banerjee’s to have her baggage checked on her arrival on a Thai Airways flight on March 16. Banerjee, who is the nephew of Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, refuted reports that 2 kg gold was seized from his wife’s baggage when she landed in the city from Bangkok.He termed the reports “baseless and politically motivated” and said his wife was not carrying “even two grams of gold” or any other dutiable or objectionable item in the baggage when she landed.

Banerjee also claimed that the Kolkata zone commissioner of the Customs had written to a junior officer to file a First Information Report against his wife on instructions from the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, New Delhi.