Kolkata, June 4 (IANS). Intensifying the investigation into the alleged signature forgery case in West Bengal Assembly, the CID team of the state police on Thursday reached the residence of Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA and former Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim. The investigating agency can interrogate him in this matter.
In the same case, the CID on Thursday also collected handwriting samples of three other TMC MLAs with the permission of the court. These include Baharul Islam, Arup Roy and Subhashish Das.
CID had approached the City Sessions Court to collect handwriting samples of these MLAs. After getting the court’s approval, all three MLAs appeared in person and gave their samples.
The matter is related to the letter which was sent by the TMC legislature party to the Assembly Speaker. In this letter, a proposal was made to make Sovandeb Chattopadhyay the leader of the opposition. It is alleged that irregularities were found regarding some signatures in this letter, after which the state government handed over the investigation to CID.
Since Firhad Hakim had also signed that letter, the investigating officer wants to know when and under what circumstances he had signed it.
Earlier, the CID team had also reached the houses of other TMC leaders and MLAs. The residences of Nayana Bandyopadhyay and Kunal Ghosh were also questioned in connection with the investigation. Video recording was also done after recording their statements.
The investigating agency had also reached the residence of TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee. The letter concerned was also signed by him as All India General Secretary. CID has summoned him to Bhawani Bhawan for questioning. Expressing fear of arrest, Abhishek Banerjee has sought protection in the court. This matter is to be heard in Calcutta High Court on Friday.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, 58 TMC MLAs wrote a letter to the Assembly Speaker proposing to make expelled leader Ritabrata Banerjee the leader of the opposition. Due to this, differences within the party have come to the fore. Although these MLAs have accepted Mamata Banerjee as the party president, they are said to be not in favor of accepting Sovandeb Chattopadhyay as the leader of the opposition.
Amid growing speculation about the future of the party, CID is engaged in a thorough investigation into the signature forgery case.
–IANS
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