Bengal CID questions Abhishek Banerjee for nearly six hours
Abhishek leaves CID office without speaking to reporters
Kolkata — Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee left the West Bengal CID headquarters on the night of Thursday, June 11, after being questioned for nearly six hours in a signature forgery case concerning the party’s choice of Leader of Opposition in the state assembly. He arrived at the CID office around 5:50 p.m., following interim protection from coercive action granted by the Calcutta High Court, and departed at approximately 11:30 p.m., without speaking to reporters.
Banerjee had skipped three previous appearance notices from the investigating agency, citing illness and his filing of a challenge petition before the high court. This marked his first encounter with a state probe agency following the change in Bengal’s power corridors. Previously, he faced multiple questioning sessions from central agencies — the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) — over coal pilferage and school jobs recruitment scams.
His airport arrival was chaotic; amid a crowd gathered there, angry individuals shouted “signature chor” (signature thief) slogans at him. After a roughly 30-minute stopover at his Kalighat residence, he reached Bhabani Bhaban about 10 minutes before the court-stipulated 6 p.m. deadline, with the premises under tight security.
On Tuesday, the CID conducted simultaneous searches at the TMC’s central office, Mamata Banerjee’s Kalighat residence, and Abhishek’s Camac Street office, attempting to recover the original copy of the TMC’s meeting resolution book and attendance sheet containing signatures of 70 MLAs present at the May 6 meeting. The searches returned empty-handed. Based on that resolution, Banerjee allegedly named Sobhabdeb Chattopadhyay as Leader of Opposition, Asima Patra and Nayna Bandyopadhyay as deputy LoPs, and Firhad Hakim as chief whip.
CID officers stated that Banerjee sent a written communication to the Speaker on May 20, enclosing a copy of the resolution book and attendance sheet, reiterating the party’s endorsement for the assembly posts. However, two expelled TMC legislators — Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha — lodged a complaint with Speaker Rathindra Bose claiming “no resolution was adopted about the selection of LoP” in the May 6 meeting and that they signed the resolution book on May 19, later than the meeting date. The MLAs alleged the May 6 resolution was “manufactured and fabricated,” stating that 14 of the 70 signatures were in “block letters.”
The CID took over the probe from Kolkata Police on May 28, a day after the Hare Street police station registered a case based on a complaint from the principal secretary of the state assembly, charging cheating, forgery, and criminal conspiracy. In its summons, the state agency directed Banerjee to appear with the original copy of the resolution book for mandatory forensic tests to ascertain the genuineness of the signatures in question.
The case has intensified political tensions in West Bengal, with the TMC defending Banerjee’s actions while critics demand accountability. As forensic analysis awaits the original document, the investigation remains a critical test of the party’s internal discipline and the credibility of its leadership selections.