Kolkata, Feb 21 (IANS): In a surprise action ahead of the West Bengal Assembly polls, a CBI team arrived at the Kolkata residence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee to question his wife in the coal scam case.

A CBI source related to probe told IANS, "A team of CBI has gone to Abhishek's residence to issue notice to his wife in a coal scam case the agency registered last year in November."

The source said that the team delivered the notice to his wife to question her at their residence. He said that the agency was waiting for the response of his wife for questioning.

The CBI had registered a case of illegal theft of coal last year in November. The agency had registered a case against coal mafia kingpin Anup Majhi alias Lala and other unidentified people, including some employees of the ECL and other central government offices. It was alleged that Majhi was involved in coal theft from leasehold mines of ECL in Kunustoria and Kajora areas.

On November 28 last year, the CBI had conducted raids at 45 locations in West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh in connection with a coal smuggling racket.

On Friday, the CBI team carried out searches at 13 locations in four districts of West Bengal including the premises of Jaidev Mondal.