Abhishek Banerjee summoned by West Bengal CID amid Assembly signature row
A CID team, meanwhile, visited TMC MLA Kunal Ghosh’s residence again on Saturday after handing over the notice to Abhishek Banerjee.
Bengal Police outside TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee's home in Kolkata to probe the MLA signature case (Express Photo by Partha Chatterjee) The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the West Bengal Police Saturday summoned Trinamool Congress MP and former West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee.
A four-member team from the detective department first went to Abhishek Banerjee’s Harish Mukherjee Road residence, only to be informed that the Diamond Harbour MP was not there.
Meanwhile, TMC MLA Kunal Ghosh told media persons that Abhishek Banerjee was at his residence in Rammohan Roy Road when CID officers went to the Harish Mukherjee Road address.
Thereafter, Abhishek Banerjee returned to his Kalighat Road residence, which is some distance away from Harish Mukherjee Road, and claimed, “I reside in my Kalighat Road house. If they (the CID) want to give notice, they will have to come here.”
After a while, CID officials went to the Kalighat Road house, but were told that the MP was busy and would not be able to meet them right away. The CID team refused to give the notice to anyone else other than Abhishek Banerjee. They finally managed to hand over the notice to Abhishek Banerjee at around 2.40 pm.
After receiving the notice, the TMC leader said, “I have not seen the notice. I will consult a legal expert. If anybody uses power wrongfully, they will not remain in power for very long. We will not bow down… no chief minister in West Bengal has ever been seen to take a bribe. But the present chief minister was seen (referring to the Narada sting operation).”
He further said, “I never fled from any agency. I always cooperate with investigation agencies. I will not bow down in front of Amit Shah. I am not like ‘Gaddar’ (most probably referring to CM Suvendu Adhikari).”
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It is still not clear why the CID summoned Abhishek Banerjee. It is, however, being speculated that CID officials went to speak with Abhishek Banerjee in connection with the investigation into the signature controversy in the Assembly. Sources said the CID has asked Abhishek Banerjee to appear before it on Monday.
TMC MLAs Nayana Bandyopadhyay, Kunal Ghosh, Baharul Islam, and Chandranath Sinha have already been questioned by the CID in the matter. Samples of their signature and handwriting were also collected.
The TMC legislative party had, in accordance with the rules, recently sent a letter to the Assembly Secretary declaring Ballygunge MLA Shobhandeb Chattopadhyay as the Leader of the Opposition. It has been alleged that on the day the document was submitted, several TMC MLAs were not even present in the Assembly. As a result, doubts have been raised regarding the authenticity of the signatures.
It was also alleged that there were discrepancies in Nayana Bandyopadhyay’s signature, following which a complaint was filed at the Hare Street police station.
A CID team, meanwhile, visited Kunal Ghosh’s residence again on Saturday after handing over the notice to Abhishek Banerjee.
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