Sagarika Ghose calls police search at Abhishek Banerjee's residence 'political vendetta'

Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose strongly criticised the early-morning police search at the Kolkata residence of party National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee, describing the operation as an act of "political vendetta, intimidation and mental torture". In a social media post on Saturday, Ghose referred to the search conducted at Banerjee's Kalighat residence and claimed that no evidence or wrongdoing was found during the operation.

According to Ghose, police personnel arrived at Abhishek Banerjee's residence at around 3 a.m. on June 13. She stated that a disaster management team was called at 5 a.m. to break open locks, following which a search operation began at 6:30 a.m. The search reportedly covered areas from the second floor to the terrace and continued for approximately 90 minutes.

In her statement, Ghose claimed that the seizure report prepared after the operation recorded "nil" recovery. She said the search yielded no evidence and alleged that the action was aimed at targeting opposition leaders. She further described the operation as an attempt to exert pressure on political opponents who had refused to yield to the ruling party at the Centre.

The search operation was conducted by a joint team comprising personnel from West Midnapore district police, Kolkata Police and central armed police forces. The operation was linked to efforts to trace Sumit Roy, an aide of Abhishek Banerjee, in connection with a case registered at Salboni Police Station. Separately, Abhishek Banerjee has been directed to appear before the CID headquarters for further questioning in the Assembly signature mismatch investigation, while Trinamool MLA Kunal Ghosh has also been summoned in the same case.