KOLKATA — The Calcutta High Court on Thursday granted Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Abhishek Banerjee a three-week interim protection from arrest. The ruling provides breathing room for the party’s second-in-command amid an escalating criminal investigation into a high-profile signature forgery scandal.
Justice Kaushik Chanda directed Banerjee to fully cooperate with the ongoing investigation. The court ordered him to report directly to the police department’s city office for questioning at 6:00 PM on Thursday immediately upon his return from New Delhi.
“This court is of the view that for securing documents, the investigating agency is at liberty to do search and seizure as per law,” Justice Chanda noted in the order. “However, the agency shall not take coercive steps against the petitioner for three weeks. If further interrogation is required, the agency will give 24-hour advance notice.”
The High Court has slated the matter for its next formal hearing in two weeks.
The Document Scandal at the Heart of the Case
The legal controversy stems from a formal political proposal seeking the official recognition of TMC leader Sovandeb Chattopadhyay as the Leader of the Opposition. The document, which was allegedly drafted during a high-level strategy meeting at the residence of former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, was subsequently flagged for extensive fraud.
The scandal erupted into public view when two TMC MLAs—Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha—filed an official complaint, labeling the resolution “manufactured and fabricated.” The lawmakers red-flagged 14 out of the 70 signatures appended to the document, claiming their names and those of several colleagues were forged to force a consensus.
The complaint triggered a rapid police investigation, which was quickly handed over to the state’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID). In recent weeks, CID detectives have executed high-profile search-and-seizure raids at both Mamata Banerjee’s residence and Abhishek Banerjee’s offices to secure primary documentation and forensic evidence.
In a swift retaliatory strike following the whistleblowing, the TMC high command expelled both complaining MLAs for alleged “anti-party activities”—a disciplinary move executed mere minutes after current Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari publicly revealed their identities.
A Party in Freefall
The forgery scandal lands at a time of extreme political instability for the Trinamool Congress. The party is currently reeling from its historic defeat in the May 4 state elections, which unseated Mamata Banerjee’s administration and ended her party’s 15-year rule in West Bengal.
Since losing power to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), long-simmering internal divides within the TMC have spilled into public view. The structural collapse of the party has reached the federal level, with at least 19 of the TMC’s 28 elected Members of Parliament already declaring their intentions to break away from the regional party and align with the ruling BJP-led national coalition.
The three-week judicial shield protects Abhishek Banerjee from immediate jail time, but the upcoming interrogation sessions and police searches ensure that the document scandal will remain a major legal threat for the embattled TMC leadership.
