Abhishek Banerjee arrives CID office for second round questioning in signature forgery case

Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee arrived at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) headquarters at Bhabani Bhawan in Kolkata on Sunday morning. Striking precisely at 11:42 AM, his arrival marks the second round of questioning he faces within a week regarding a high-profile signature forgery case. The state investigative agency issued the fresh summons after senior officers expressed immense dissatisfaction with the answers Banerjee provided during his initial six-hour interrogation session last Thursday.

The legal controversy centers around a disputed party resolution dated May 6, which recommended senior leader Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay for the post of Leader of the Opposition following the Trinamool Congress's defeat in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections. The document, which was officially forwarded to the Assembly Secretariat by Abhishek Banerjee, purportedly carried the signatures of around 70 TMC legislators. However, the political row erupted after rebel TMC MLAs Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha lodged a formal complaint, claiming that no such resolution meeting took place and alleging that at least 14 signatures on the document were outright fabrications written in block letters.

During the previous round of grilling, investigators noted that Banerjee frequently responded with "I do not know" and periodically lost his temper when pressed for details regarding the location of the original resolution book and attendance register. The CID, which took over the case from the Kolkata Police after an FIR was filed by the Assembly Principal Secretary, has already questioned 13 TMC legislators. At least three of those MLAs have explicitly told investigators that the signatures attributed to them on the legislative document are entirely fake.