Kolkata, June 1 (IANS) The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the West Bengal Police has initiated a probe and formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate allegations of forged signatures of Trinamool Congress MLAs.

According to a senior police officer, the investigating agency has formed a five-member SIT to probe this case. It was learnt that an officer of the rank of DIG is leading it. Apart from this, a DSP and two inspectors are also in the team.

Trinamool Congress General Secretary and Lok Sabha member Abhishek Banerjee was summoned to CID headquarters, Bhabani Bhawan, on Monday afternoon. This appearance is in connection with an interrogation concerning discrepancies in the signatures of the party’s MLAs related to nominations for specific important positions in the West Bengal Assembly. However, speculation was rife as to whether he would join the probe.

This comes soon after the incident of heckling and physical assault that occurred in Sonarpur, located in the South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, on the afternoon of May 30. After being denied admission by two private hospitals on Saturday, which officially stated that “admission not required”, his aunt, the former West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, had brought him back to his residence at Kalighat Road in South Kolkata. She had announced that a “hospital-like facility” had been created at her nephew’s residence to ensure proper treatment.

In such a situation, the question arises whether Abhishek Banerjee will be appearing at the CID headquarters at Bhabani Bhawan, which is quite close to his residence, to face questioning.

The CID issued him a notice for interrogation on May 30. Initially, the agency’s investigators visited his home located on the Harish Mukherjee Road to deliver the notice. Subsequently, upon discovering that Banerjee was at his other residence in Kalighat, the CID officers proceeded there and personally presented him the notice.

Abhishek Banerjee subsequently stated that he would cooperate with the investigation while adhering to appropriate legal counsel.

The notice is reportedly linked to the ongoing CID investigation into mismatches in the signatures of some Trinamool Congress legislators on a resolution nominating the Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, two deputy leaders of the opposition, and the party’s Chief Whip in the legislative wing.

Before submitting the resolution, Abhishek Banerjee, as the party’s general secretary, had sent a letter to the Assembly Secretariat nominating Sovandeb Chattopadhyay as Leader of Opposition, Nayna Bandyopadhyay and Asima Patra as deputy leaders, and Firhad Hakim, also Mayor of Kolkata, as Chief Whip. However, Speaker Rathindra Bose insisted on the submission of a resolution carrying the signatures of Trinamool MLAs. When mismatches in some signatures were noticed, the matter was referred to the CID.

–IANS

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