Kolkata, 12 June (H.S.): Trinamool Congress National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee was questioned by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for more than five hours on Thursday in connection with the alleged signature forgery case linked to the West Bengal Assembly. Banerjee arrived at the CID headquarters in Bhawani Bhavan at around 5:50 p.m. and left at approximately 11:30 p.m. After the interrogation, he went directly to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s residence in Kalighat. Investigators have asked him to appear again on June 14.

Banerjee had returned to Kolkata from New Delhi earlier in the day. His flight landed at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport at around 4:20 p.m. From there, he headed to his Kalighat residence before proceeding to Bhawani Bhavan ahead of the court-mandated deadline. He did not speak to the media either upon entering or leaving the CID office.

The CID has been seeking to question Banerjee in connection with allegations of forged signatures on a letter related to the selection of the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly. He had previously skipped multiple summonses, citing health reasons on one occasion and political engagements outside Kolkata on another.

Amid concerns that the investigating agency might take coercive action against him, Banerjee approached the Calcutta High Court seeking protection. During a hearing on Thursday, the court directed him to appear before the CID by 6 p.m. and cooperate with the investigation. The court also ruled that no coercive action could be taken against him for the time being. The matter is scheduled to be heard again after two weeks, and the interim protection will remain in force until then.

The hearing came against the backdrop of fresh political controversy after Trinamool Congress MP and senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee withdrew from representing Abhishek Banerjee in the case. Kalyan publicly criticised Abhishek’s conduct, triggering speculation about internal differences within the ruling party.

In view of Abhishek Banerjee’s appearance before investigators, security was significantly tightened around Bhawani Bhavan. Additional state police personnel, central forces and Rapid Action Force units were deployed, while arrangements were also made to deal with any possible law-and-order situation.

The controversy centres on a letter allegedly submitted by the Trinamool Congress legislative party to the Speaker of the Assembly regarding the appointment of Shovandeb Chattopadhyay as Leader of the Opposition. Questions were raised over the authenticity of several signatures on the document, with some legislators claiming they had never signed it and others pointing to irregularities in the manner names were written. The letter also carried Abhishek Banerjee’s signature in his capacity as the party’s General Secretary.

As part of the probe, the CID has already collected handwriting samples from three Trinamool legislators. Meanwhile, a few protesters raised slogans against Banerjee at Kolkata airport on Thursday, though he refrained from making any comment on the incident.

Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh