Trinamool Congress (TMC) Member of Parliament Abhishek Banerjee was interrogated for nearly five and a half hours by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) regarding a signature forgery case.

The questioning took place at the CID’s headquarters, Bhabani Bhawan, in Kolkata’s Alipore area.

The case concerns allegations of irregularities in a resolution submitted to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly about the appointment of Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay as Leader of Opposition (LoP), Asima Patra and Nayna Bandyopadhyay as Deputy LoP, and Firhad Hakim as Chief Whip.

On May 9, Banerjee informed the Assembly Speaker that the party decided to appoint office-bearers during a meeting of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) legislative party. The Principal Secretary of the Assembly wrote to Banerjee on May 18 requesting the meeting minutes, resolution, and signatures of MLAs present.

Two days later, Banerjee submitted a copy of the meeting resolution book and an attendance sheet showing 70 MLAs present at the May 6 meeting. However, on May 27, two TMC MLAs filed a complaint with the Speaker alleging no resolution was adopted on May 6 and that signatures were only provided on May 19. They also claimed the resolution dated May 6 was “manufactured and fabricated,” with 14 signatures appearing in block letters.

The CID has recorded statements from 13 MLAs whose signatures were in block letters. In response, the TMC suspended the complainants, Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha, for anti-party activities.