A six-member team from the CID carried out an hour-long search at the Ballygunge MLA’s Bhabanipur residence and questioned Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay in relation to the case, police sources said.
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The West Bengal Criminal Investigation Department (CID) visited Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay’s residence on Saturday, intesifying its ongoing investigation into the signature mismatch case.
A six-member team from the CID carried out an hour-long search at the Ballygunge MLA’s Bhabanipur residence and questioned Chattopadhyay in relation to the case, police sources said.
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The TMC MLA handed over the controversial resolution copy to the CID sleuths. According to CID sources, Chattopadhyay informed them that, with the exception of one individual, all TMC MLAs were present on the day the signatures were obtained.
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Chattopadhyay maintained that he would cooperate with the investigation but reportedly highlighted that those MLAs who have raised questions regarding the case and were present while the party resolution was passed, should also be brought in for questioning.
The CID team has already questioned TMC’ second-in-command and party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and visited his Kalighat office as part of their investigation into the case multiple times. TMC MLAs Kunal Ghosh and Nayana Bandyopadhyay were also interrogated regarding the case.
It is reported that Sovandeb Chattopadhyay had previously been questioned about the forgery case on the 11th and 17th. On this occasion, the Trinamool MLA invited the CID officials to his home and handed over the copy of the resolution. The officials spent about an hour at the residence. Sovandeb also took aim at Ritabrata Banerjee without explicitly naming him. He stated, “There is a court case pending. I will not utter a single word about it. However, I have extended 200 percent cooperation and will continue to do so in the future. I have nothing more to say.” “However, those who did this acted with a specific agenda. This was not part of our plan.”
He added, “The very people who went to lodge a complaint with the Speaker are the ones who did this. We had invited everyone to the meeting in good faith. Who is responsible for this? The ones who forged the signature and then went straight to the Speaker.”
The TMC had earlier proposed Chattopadhyay’s name for the position of Leader of Opposition in the assembly, and submitted a letter to that effect to Speaker Rathindra Bose in which the party general secretary had also signed. However, since allegations came up related to forgery of signatures in that resolution, Bose did not accept the resolution.
Rebel TMC leader and Uluberia Purba MLA Ritabrata Banerjee and Entally MLA Sandipan Saha had lodged a complaint regarding the forgery case at Hare Street police station, which subsequently led to their expulsion from the party.
In time, Ritabrata Banerjee drummed up support from 59 MLAs and got acknowdledged as the Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal assembly.
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