Calcutta High Court Grants Relief to Abhishek Banerjee in Fake Signature Case

The Calcutta High Court on Thursday granted TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee three weeks of relief from any action in a fake signature case, while directing him to cooperate with the investigation. Following the court's order, Banerjee visited the CID headquarters at Bhawani Bhavan around 5:50 PM. The court also instructed the CID to provide 24 hours' notice before summoning him for future questioning.

In a separate matter, the High Court heard a case regarding the appointment of the Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly. TMC and its leader Mamata Banerjee have challenged the Speaker's decision to recognize Ritabrata Banerjee as Leader of Opposition and Sandipan Saha as Chief Whip. TMC argued that Shovandeb Chattopadhyay had already been appointed as Leader of Opposition in a party meeting on 6 May, and this decision had been communicated to the Speaker. Advocate Kalyan Banerjee, representing TMC, stated that the authority to appoint the Leader of Opposition lies with the political party, not the legislative group. He also noted that Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha had been expelled from the party and could not form a separate legislative group.

The High Court did not issue an interim order and scheduled the next hearing for 16 June. The Assembly session is set to begin on 18 June. Meanwhile, the CID continues its investigation into the fake signature allegations, which stem from claims by Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha that their signatures were forged in the proposal appointing Shovandeb Chattopadhyay as Leader of Opposition. Both legislators were expelled from TMC after raising these allegations.

Key Points

• Calcutta High Court granted Abhishek Banerjee three weeks of relief in a fake signature case, directing him to cooperate with the CID.
• The court instructed the CID to provide 24 hours' notice before summoning Banerjee for questioning.
• TMC challenged the Speaker's recognition of Ritabrata Banerjee as Leader of Opposition, arguing that Shovandeb Chattopadhyay had been appointed earlier.
• The High Court scheduled the next hearing on the Leader of Opposition dispute for 16 June.
• CID continues its investigation into allegations of forged signatures in a TMC proposal.