Abhishek seeks protection in all cases; HC asks state for total case count

Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee has approached the Calcutta High Court seeking protective orders against coercive action in all criminal cases registered against him across the state. Banerjee has been facing a series of legal complaints and investigations, including the Sevashray DJ case and the Trinamool signature forgery case. The matter came up for hearing in the courtroom of Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya, who directed the state government to submit a formal response by Wednesday detailing the exact number of cases currently pending against the parliamentarian.

The petitioner is currently embroiled in multiple active investigations led by the state police and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), ranging from corruption allegations to the controversial DJ comments case. While Banerjee already enjoys specific court-mandated protection in the signature forgery and DJ cases, he has now petitioned for a blanket protective umbrella covering all remaining cases registered at various police stations. During the proceedings, the court focused on establishing the scale of the litigation before determining the scope of any overarching protective orders.

This legal move closely follows Banerjee's submission of his voice sample in connection with the DJ case on Wednesday, which he did after facing strong reprimands from the High Court. Justice Bhattacharyya had previously warned Banerjee's counsel that his protection would be revoked and fines imposed if he failed to cooperate with CID investigators regarding the voice sample. Following the court's strict intervention, Banerjee complied with the voice sample collection but requested legal assurances that the recording would not be utilized by investigators in unrelated corruption cases, while simultaneously moving his plea for protection in all other pending matters.