Kolkata, June 9 (IANS): Trinamool Congress General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Tuesday ignored the third consecutive notice from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of West Bengal Police for questioning in connection with an ongoing probe in the case of mismatches in signatures of some party legislators in an important resolution pertaining to important positions in the state Assembly, which are reserved for the Opposition bench.

Abhishek Banerjee, also the nephew of former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and who is currently in New Delhi, did not appear at the CID’s headquarters at Bhabani Bhavan in Kolkata within the stipulated period of 5 p.m. on Tuesday.

Instead, state police insiders said, the Trinamool Congress General Secretary had sent a communique to the CID seeking more time to appear because of his current presence out of Kolkata.

In his communique, Abhishek Banerjee had also referred to the scheduled hearing on Wednesday at a single-judge vacation bench of the Calcutta High Court on his petition challenging the CID summons and also seeking protection from coercive police action, including arrest, in the matter.

This is the third notice for questioning that had been ignored by the Trinamool Congress General secretary in the matter, the first being for appearance on June 1 and second being on June 8.

At the time the communique from Abhishek Banerjee reached the CID headquarter, two teams of the CID were conducting parallel raids and search operations at a party office of Trinamool Congress adjacent to former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s residence at Kalighat in South Kolkata and also at an office at Camac Street in Central Kolkata, from where the party’s General Secretary used to operate.

Abhishek Banerjee left for New Delhi on the evening of June 6 and Mamata Banerjee reached the national capital in the evening of June 8.

Both attended the crucial meeting of the opposition Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc at New Delhi on June 8.

It is not yet known when they will return to Kolkata. They are in New Delhi at a crucial juncture when 20 out of 28 Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha MPs have turned rebel under the leadership of the party’s four-time Lok Sabha members, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and Satabdi Roy, and all of them have refused to accept the leadership of Abhishek Banerjee as the party’s General Secretary.

–IANS

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