CID at Mamata's home, another team at Abhishek's office in signature forgery case
A team of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Thursday arrived at the residence of former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as part of its probe
A team of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Thursday arrived at the residence of former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as part of its probe into the alleged forging of signatures of TMC MLAs, marking a dramatic escalation in West Bengal's already turbulent political landscape. Another team of CID officials simultaneously reached the residence of Abhishek Banerjee, Trinamool's national general secretary and Mamata Banerjee's nephew, as part of searches linked to the case, a controversy at the heart of an unprecedented split within the opposition party. Read Full Story Officials of the state investigating agency, accompanied by local police personnel and a large contingent of women police officers, reached Mamata Banerjee's residence at 30B Harish Chatterjee Street, which also serves as the Trinamool Congress's central party office, in the late afternoon. The CID team managed to enter the premises after a brief standoff with security personnel and a party leader and subsequently began a search and verification exercise inside the premises, according to sources.
Both Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee are currently in New Delhi for meetings related to the INDIA bloc. The CID on Monday had issued a third notice to Abhishek Banerjee, directing him to appear before investigators by 5 pm on Tuesday. The agency tightened the deadline after he skipped previous summonses and sought postponements citing health reasons and pending proceedings before the Calcutta High Court. According to CID officials present at the spot, the visit was prompted by a reply submitted earlier by TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee. "In his response, Abhishek Banerjee stated that the signatures of MLAs were collected at the party's central office at 30B Harish Chatterjee Street. Based on that statement, we have come here as part of the investigation," a CID officer said. Abhishek Banerjee, who is currently in New Delhi along with Mamata Banerjee, was summoned by the CID to appear before the agency by 5 pm on Tuesday in connection with the case.
WHAT IS THE FORGED SIGNATURES ROW? The controversy centres around a proposal submitted to the West Bengal Assembly Speaker seeking recognition of senior TMC MLA Sovandeb Chattopadhyay as Leader of Opposition. The communication allegedly carried the signatures of around 70 TMC MLAs and was signed by Abhishek Banerjee before being submitted to the Speaker. However, rebel legislators Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha alleged that several signatures attached to the proposal and accompanying meeting register were forged, prompting the registration of an FIR and a CID investigation. Investigators are now probing how the document was prepared, where the signatures were collected and whether any falsification took place before submission to the Assembly secretariat. The CID’s action in the forged signatures case comes at a time when the party is grappling with one of the biggest internal crises in the TMC’s 28-year history. The political rebellion began after a section of TMC legislators opposed the party leadership’s decision to back Sovandeb Chattopadhyay for the Leader of Opposition’s post following the Assembly elections.
The BriefWire