Trinamool Congress National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee has been directed to appear before the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) once again on June 14 in connection with the alleged MLAs’ signature mismatch case, officials confirmed on Friday. The summons comes a day after the Trinamool Congress MP underwent nearly six hours of questioning at the CID headquarters in Kolkata’s Bhavani Bhavan. He was released shortly before midnight on Thursday after an extended round of interrogation.
Abhishek Banerjee appeared before investigators as part of an ongoing probe into discrepancies in the signatures of several Trinamool Congress legislators. The investigation centres on a key resolution linked to appointments for Opposition positions in the West Bengal Assembly. According to reports, investigators have sought Banerjee’s presence again after he was allegedly unable to provide satisfactory responses to several questions during Thursday’s questioning, particularly concerning the original resolution register and the official minutes of the meeting tied to the disputed signatures.
As reported by The News Minute, sources familiar with the interrogation claimed that Banerjee could not clarify the present whereabouts of the original resolution book when questioned by CID officials. “Even when asked that as a party’s general secretary could he deny having knowledge about the resolution book, he even lost his cool for a few minutes,” an insider familiar with the interrogation proceedings told The News Minute.
Sources further indicated that investigators were left unconvinced by several of Banerjee’s responses on matters beyond the resolution register, prompting the CID to issue another summons for Sunday, according to The News Minute.
Following his release from the CID office late on Thursday night, Abhishek Banerjee reportedly travelled directly to Mamata Banerjee’s residence on Harish Chatterjee Street. However, no details have emerged regarding the nature of their discussion.
Thursday’s appearance before the CID came after Abhishek Banerjee had reportedly skipped three consecutive notices issued by the investigating agency. His eventual attendance followed an order by the Calcutta High Court’s single-judge vacation bench earlier that day, directing him to appear before investigators by 6 p.m. While the court granted Banerjee interim protection from coercive action, including arrest, for a period of 21 days, it simultaneously instructed him to fully cooperate with the investigation. The bench also authorised the CID to conduct raids and search operations, if deemed necessary, to ensure a fair and thorough probe into the matter.
