Kolkata, May 18 (IANS) Trinamool Congress general secretary and the party’s Lok Sabha member, Abhishek Banerjee, on Monday approached the Calcutta High Court seeking the scrapping of a first information report filed against him last week.

In the first information report registered against him with the Bidhannagar Cyber Crime Police Station under the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate in North 24 Parganas district on the night of May 15, he had been accused of allegedly inciting violence and threatening Union Home Minister Amit Shah before the recently concluded Assembly polls in the state.

Two non-bailable sections under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, namely Section 192 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot) and Section 196 (promotion of enmity, hatred, or disharmony between different groups based on religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste, or community), have been slapped against him in the said first information report.

At the same time, Section 351(2) (standard offence of criminal intimidation) and Section 353(1)(c) (creating or spreading inciting statements or rumours) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, both of which are bailable offences, have also been slapped against Banerjee in the first information report.

In the first information report, the police have also invoked Section 123(2) (undue influence as a corrupt practice in Indian elections) and Section 125 (promotion of enmity, hatred, or ill-will between different classes of citizens on grounds of religion, race, caste, community, or language during an election) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

On Friday, the Bidhannagar Cyber Crime Police Station filed this first information report against the Diamond Harbour Member of Parliament, based on a complaint from Rajiv Sarkar, a social activist.

The Trinamool Congress has alleged a political vendetta against Abhishek Banerjee amid the changed political situation in the state.

Again, on Saturday night, former three-time Trinamool Congress legislator from Magrahat (Paschim) Assembly constituency in South 24 Parganas district and former West Bengal Minister of State for Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education in the previous Mamata Banerjee-led Cabinet, Giasuddin Molla, filed a police complaint against Abhishek Banerjee and one of the latter’s trusted police officers.

In the complaint, Molla accused the police officer, Mitun Kumar Dey, the former Sub-Divisional Police Officer of Diamond Harbour subdivision in South 24 Parganas district, of taking unnecessary penal action against a section of local Trinamool Congress leaders and workers who were not ready to accept the autocratic style of running the party by Abhishek Banerjee.

–IANS

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