 "No arrest but no escape: Calcutta HC shields Abhishek Banerjee from arrest; sets 6 PM deadline to face CID")
In a major relief for Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Abhishek Banerjee, the Calcutta High Court on Thursday granted him interim protection from coercive action in a case related to the alleged forgery of signatures of newly elected TMC MLAs. Justice Kausik Chanda directed Banerjee to appear before the CID by 6 pm on Thursday in connection with the signature forgery case.
This development comes after Abhishek Banerjee approached the single-judge vacation bench of Justice Chaitali Chatterjee Das last week, challenging the CID summons and seeking protection from coercive police action, including arrest. In his plea to the court, Banerjee argued that the summons issued to him were arbitrary and sought legal protection while the matter was being heard. However, the vacation bench rejected the plea and fixed June 10 as the date of the first hearing in the matter.
A controversy erupted in West Bengal politics after two Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLAs, Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha, filed a complaint before the Assembly Speaker on May 27. They alleged that no resolution had been adopted regarding the selection of the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) on May 6 and claimed that they had signed the meeting resolution book only on May 19.
The controversy has triggered a major internal crisis within the TMC. A rebel faction of 58 MLAs later defied the party leadership, broke away, and declared Ritabrata Banerjee as their choice for Leader of the Opposition, rejecting the party leadership's nominee, Sovandeb Chattopadhyay.
In their complaint, the two MLAs alleged that the resolution dated May 6 was "manufactured and fabricated." They claimed that as many as 14 signatures on the document appeared in block letters. The Trinamool Congress later suspended Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha, accusing them of anti-party activities.
Police registered a case on May 27 based on a complaint filed by the Principal Secretary of the West Bengal Assembly. The case was registered under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) related to cheating, forgery, and criminal conspiracy. The CID took over the investigation on May 28.
The state CID subsequently formed a five-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the alleged forgery of signatures of TMC legislators.
As part of the investigation, Abhishek Banerjee was asked to submit the party's original resolution copy that had been sent to the West Bengal Assembly Speaker regarding appointments to various Assembly posts, officials said.
Sources in the Trinamool Congress said that Banerjee responded to the agency through a formal letter sent by his legal counsel.
On May 20, Banerjee submitted a copy of the meeting resolution book along with an attendance sheet carrying the signatures of members who attended the meeting held on May 6. The document stated that 70 MLAs were present at the meeting.
The CID had served Abhishek Banerjee with three notices for interrogation in connection with its investigation into alleged mismatches in the signatures of some Trinamool legislators on a key resolution concerning appointments to important Assembly posts reserved for the opposition.
However, Banerjee did not appear in response to any of the summonses, including one directing him to appear at the CID headquarters at Bhabani Bhavan by 5 pm on Tuesday.
Following Abhishek Banerjee's failure to appear before investigators in the signature forgery case, the CID conducted simultaneous raids and search operations on Tuesday at a Trinamool Congress office near Mamata Banerjee's residence in Kalighat, south Kolkata, and at another party office on Camac Street in central Kolkata, from where Abhishek Banerjee had previously operated.
(With agencies' inputs)
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