Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], June 12 (ANI): A team of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officials reached the residence of Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary and MP Abhishek Banerjee on Friday in Kolkata in connection with the signature forgery case.
Lawyers of Abhishek Banerjee also arrived at his residence.
Abhishek Banerjee was on Thursday questioned by the CID for nearly 5.5 hours in connection with a signature forgery case at Bhabani Bhawan, the agency’s headquarters in Kolkata’s Alipore area.
TMC MLA Madan Mitra told ANI that Abhishek Banerjee had been cooperating with the investigation and would continue to do so.
“They (CID) have come; it’s their job, so they’ve come. They want cooperation from Abhishek Banerjee, and Abhishek Banerjee is cooperating. He has cooperated in the past, and he will continue to cooperate,” he said.
Debashish Rai said that CID has not given any intimation to them regarding the purpose of the CID visit.
“CID has not given us any intimation. We have no information. We will tell you more once we have some information and follow the rules…We don’t know why they are here.”
The case stems from a complaint alleging irregularities in a resolution submitted to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly regarding the appointment of Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay as Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the state assembly, Asima Patra and Nayna Bandyopadhyay as Deputy LoP, and Firhad Hakim as Chief Whip.
Abhishek Banerjee informed the West Bengal Assembly Speaker on May 9 that the party had taken the decision to appoint office-bearers during a meeting of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) legislative party.
Subsequently, on May 18, the Principal Secretary of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly wrote to Abhishek Banerjee seeking submission of the minutes and resolution of the meeting, along with signatures of MLAs present during the decision-making process.
On May 20, Abhishek submitted a copy of the meeting resolution book with an attendance sheet containing the signatures of the members present in the concerned meeting, which mentioned that 70 MLAs were present at the meeting held on May 6.
On May 27, two TMC MLAs filed a complaint before the Speaker alleging that no resolution had been adopted regarding the LoP selection on May 6 and that they had only signed the meeting resolution book on May 19.
The complainants also alleged that the resolution dated May 6 was “manufactured and fabricated”, with as many as 14 signatures appearing in block letters. The CID had said it has recorded statements of 13 MLAs whose “signatures were in block letters”.
TMC suspended the two MLAs – Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha for anti-party activities.
Based on a complaint by the Principal Secretary of the Assembly, Hare Street Police Station registered a case on May 27 under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) related to cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy.
CID took over the investigation on May 28. (ANI)
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