Kolkata, June 14 (UNI) Security has been stepped up at the CID headquarters in Bhawani Bhavan as Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee is scheduled to appear before investigators on Sunday in connection with the alleged signature forgery case linked to the West Bengal Assembly.
Banerjee was questioned for nearly five-and-a-half hours by the state police's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Thursday night.
Following the interrogation, he was summoned again and asked to appear on Sunday morning.
Banerjee had earlier said that he would cooperate with the investigation and appear before the agency as directed.
The fresh summons comes amid a series of developments involving the Diamond Harbour MP.
On Friday, CID officers visited his residence and served him another notice in connection with a separate case arising out of a complaint lodged in Salt Lake over one of his remarks.
He has been asked to appear in that matter on June 16.
In addition, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Banerjee on June 15 in connection with its investigation into the alleged primary school recruitment scam. He has no legal protection in either of these two cases.
The Calcutta High Court, while hearing the signature forgery case, directed Banerjee to cooperate with the investigation.
The court also ordered that no coercive action be taken against him by the CID for two weeks, during which the matter will come up for hearing again.
In view of the court's directive and interim protection, Banerjee is expected to appear before the CID on Sunday.
Despite it being a holiday, senior CID officials were seen arriving at Bhawani Bhavan from early morning.
Additional police personnel and central forces have been deployed around the area to prevent any untoward incident.
The heightened security follows a dramatic police operation at Banerjee's Kalighat residence early on Saturday.
Officers from Salboni Police Station were searching for his close aide Sumit Roy, whose mobile phone's last known tower location was reportedly traced to the residence.
According to sources, police knocked on the doors from around 3 a.m. but received no response.
At about 5 a.m., disaster management personnel were called in to break open the lock, after which officers entered and conducted a search.
Former chief minister Mamata Banerjee had also reached the residence after learning about the operation. Police left the premises around 8 a.m. without recovering any material or locating Roy.
The controversy over the alleged forged signatures stems from a letter submitted to the Speaker by the Trinamool Congress legislative party regarding the appointment of Shovandeb Chattopadhyay as Leader of the Opposition.
Allegations later surfaced that several signatures on the letter were inconsistent, with some legislators claiming they had not signed the document and others pointing to names written in block letters.
As the party's general secretary, Banerjee's signature appeared on the disputed letter.
CID had issued multiple summonses to him earlier, but he initially skipped appearances before approaching the Calcutta High Court for protection.
Following the court's order, he returned from New Delhi and appeared before investigators at Bhawani Bhavan on Thursday.
UNI SAG ARN