CID conducts searches at Mamata Banerjee's residence in signature forgery case

The Crime Investigation Department (CID) on Tuesday conducted searches at the Kolkata residence of Mamata Banerjee as part of its investigation into allegations of forged signatures of party MLAs on a proposal submitted to the Assembly Speaker.

According to sources, CID officials, accompanied by personnel from the Kalighat police station and women police personnel, arrived at the party's central office at 30B Harish Chatterjee Street around noon.

The investigation relates to allegations that signatures of legislators were forged on a communication endorsing the selection of Sovandeb Chattopadhyay as the Leader of Opposition.

CID officials said the searches were carried out based on a response submitted by Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee to an earlier notice issued by the agency.

According to a CID officer, Abhishek Banerjee stated in his reply that the signatures of MLAs had been collected at the party's central office at 30B Harish Chatterjee Street. The officer said the agency was investigating that claim.

Three CID teams were deployed for the searches. One team visited Mamata Banerjee's residence, while another searched Abhishek Banerjee's office, and a third team searched his residence. Mamata Banerjee was reportedly in Delhi at the time.

The controversy began after a proposal seeking recognition of senior Trinamool MLA Sovandeb Chattopadhyay as Leader of Opposition contained forged signatures of several legislators.

Two Trinamool MLAs, Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha, complained to the Speaker that the resolution was "manufactured and fabricated". They alleged that 14 of the 70 signatures on the document were in block letters.

Following the complaint, an FIR was registered, and the CID launched an investigation into the matter.

The Trinamool Congress later expelled both MLAs for anti-party activities.