Kolkata: Trinamool Congress general secretary and Lok Sabha member Abhishek Banerjee on Friday evening said he will cooperate with the West Bengal Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) if summoned for interrogation.
On Friday, a team of CID officials reached his residence at Kalighat Road in South Kolkata, reportedly to serve him a notice in connection with a case where he had been accused of inciting violence and threatening Union Home Minister Amit Shah before the recently concluded assembly polls in the state.
However, Banerjee, also the nephew of former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, was not at his residence at the time. After the CID officers waited for almost two and a half hours, the Trinamool general secretary finally arrived and first spoke to the media persons waiting.
“I returned to Kolkata from New Delhi on Thursday afternoon and immediately went to the CID office to face interrogation in the legislators’ signature case. There, I faced questioning for over 5.5 hours. I reached the CID office before the 6 p.m. deadline. I cooperated with them to the best of my ability. I am summoned again on June 14. I will go there on that day also,” Banerjee said.
He carefully avoided mentioning that he had dodged three CID summons earlier and finally appeared on Thursday evening, following a single-judge vacation bench of the Calcutta High Court setting a deadline for him to appear at the CID office.
When asked why he kept the CID officers waiting at his residence for 2.5 hours on Friday, he said he had a meeting with Mamata Banerjee at her residence.
“During that meeting, a CID team came to give notice in a separate case. I asked my assistant Partha to receive the notice. I requested that if they gave the notice to him, then they would have to wait. I came by 7:15 now. When I came back, I saw that he was not there. He does not come whenever he wants. If they inform me about their arrival in advance, I will be there. If they do not, they will have to wait,” he said.
After speaking to the media, he went back inside his house, leaving the CID officers waiting. Finally, the CID officers left after handing over the notice to one of the employees there.
In the notice, he was asked to appear at the CID office on June 16 for interrogation in the case where he had been accused of inciting violence and threatening Union Home Minister Amit Shah before the recently concluded assembly polls in the state.
Last month, an FIR was registered against Banerjee at the Bidhannagar Cyber Crime Police Station under the Bidhannagar City Police. The cops at the cybercrime police station had been conducting the probe until Thursday, when the probe was handed over to the CID.
(IANS)
