Abhishek Banerjee grilled for 6 hours in TMC signature forgery case
Abhishek Banerjee was grilled for six hours by the CID in a signature forgery case, arriving from Delhi after attending the INDIA bloc meeting
Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee was questioned for six hours by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Thursday regarding a signature forgery case involving a resolution submitted to the West Bengal assembly speaker concerning the Leader of Opposition (LoP) position, a matter that is also subjudice in the Calcutta High Court. Banerjee, who had previously skipped three summons citing health reasons, appeared after the High Court directed him to cooperate with investigators by 6:00 PM and barred coercive action against him, following his petition seeking to quash the FIR and gain immunity from arrest. The case stems from a complaint by rebel leaders Ritabrata Chatterjee and Sandipan Saha, alleging forged signatures on a resolution that initially named Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay as LoP, with the speaker subsequently accepting Chatterjee as LoP after a majority of MLAs sided with him, while Mamata Banerjee's faction disputes this decision and finds itself facing defections amid the ongoing CID probe.
Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee was questioned for six hours by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Thursday regarding a signature forgery case involving a resolution submitted to the West Bengal assembly speaker concerning the Leader of Opposition (LoP) position, a matter that is also subjudice in the Calcutta High Court. Banerjee, who had previously skipped three summons citing health reasons, appeared after the High Court directed him to cooperate with investigators by 6:00 PM and barred coercive action against him, following his petition seeking to quash the FIR and gain immunity from arrest. The case stems from a complaint by rebel leaders Ritabrata Chatterjee and Sandipan Saha, alleging forged signatures on a resolution that initially named Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay as LoP, with the speaker subsequently accepting Chatterjee as LoP after a majority of MLAs sided with him, while Mamata Banerjee's faction disputes this decision and finds itself facing defections amid the ongoing CID probe.
Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee was questioned for six hours by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Thursday regarding a signature forgery case involving a resolution submitted to the West Bengal assembly speaker concerning the Leader of Opposition (LoP) position, a matter that is also subjudice in the Calcutta High Court. Banerjee, who had previously skipped three summons citing health reasons, appeared after the High Court directed him to cooperate with investigators by 6:00 PM and barred coercive action against him, following his petition seeking to quash the FIR and gain immunity from arrest. The case stems from a complaint by rebel leaders Ritabrata Chatterjee and Sandipan Saha, alleging forged signatures on a resolution that initially named Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay as LoP, with the speaker subsequently accepting Chatterjee as LoP after a majority of MLAs sided with him, while Mamata Banerjee's faction disputes this decision and finds itself facing defections amid the ongoing CID probe.
Trinamool All-India general secretary Abhishek Banerjee MP was grilled for six hours by the investigators on Thursday in the signature forgery case.
Abhishek reached the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) headquarters around 5:50 pm and was there till around 11:30pm. The TMC MP had arrived from Delhi, where attended the INDIA bloc meeting, on Thursday before heading to his Kalighat residence. Later, he left for the CID headquarters at Bhawani Bhawan. Abhishek headed to his aunt and party cheif Mamata Banerjee’s residence in Kalighat after the interrogation.
The TMC MP skipped three summons issued by the investigating team over the last three weeks, citing health reasons after the Sonarpur heckling incident. He had cited that the case was subjudice in the Calcutta High Court. The MP has reportedly been called again for questioning on June 14th.
Abhishek was given a 6:00pm deadline on Thursday by the HC, which also directed that no coercive action can be taken against the MP, while he has to cooperate with investigations. A writ petition was filed in the court by him seeking quashing of the FIR and immunity from arrest after a CID team on Tuesday searched the TMC party office opposite Mamata Banerjee’s residence and Abhishek’s Camac street office looking for the resolution with 70 signatures submitted to the West Bengal assembly speaker Ratindra Bose. The resolution naming Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay as Leader of Opposition(LoP), which was reportedly signed on May 6th at the Kalighat office. It allegedly had 14 forged signatures, with Abhishek’s signature at the end of the document, being the party’s national general secretary.
Following a complaint by rebel leaders Ritabrata Chatterjee and Sandipan Saha, the assembly speaker filed a complaint with the Hare Street police station, after which investigations began by the CID. Fourteen signatories were questioned, and Abhishek was summoned too. Ritabrata is currently the LoP after 58 rebel MLAs sided with him to lead as LoP, which was accepted by the speaker, given the two-thirds majority of the 80 TMC MLAs in the state.
The original faction of TMC with Mamata and Abhishek has approached the court against Ritabrata as LoP, citing that it is the party’s decision to make the choice. Amidst the CID investigation, the Mamata faction, however, finds itself outnumbered as several MLA and MPs have switched over to the rebel camp, including three Rajya Sabha resignations as a sign of protest against Abhishek’s alleged high-handedness and disregard for party leaders.