HC extends Abhishek Banerjee's protection in signature forgery case by one month

The Calcutta High Court has granted major relief to Abhishek Banerjee by extending his interim protection for one month in an Assembly signature forgery case. Justice Kaushik Chanda ordered that no coercive or strict actions can be taken against the prominent Member of Parliament during this protective timeframe. However, the High Court explicitly clarified that the TMC national leader must fully cooperate with the ongoing investigative procedures, with the next formal hearing scheduled for July 23.

The legal controversy initiated following the official declaration of state legislative assembly election results. On May 6, Banerjee held a party meeting in Kalighat where the name of veteran politician Shobhandeb Chatterjee was approved as the prospective Leader of the Opposition. Following the formal oath-taking ceremony of the elected MLAs on May 13 and 14, the Assembly Secretary requested the party to submit a signed legislative proposal. A second documentation meeting was arranged in Kalighat on May 19 to collect signatures, though several elected representatives were absent.

The issue escalated drastically when a compiled document bearing seventy MLA signatures was submitted to the West Bengal Assembly secretariat. Upon matching the papers, the Assembly Secretary detected major variations in the signatures across two separate documents and lodged an official police complaint alleging document forgery. The state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) took charge of the probe and summoned Abhishek Banerjee to their Bhavani Bhavan headquarters. Banerjee initially skipped the appearance citing illness and requested a 15-day extension before officially moving the High Court to challenge the CID notice.