Kolkata: Armed with an order passed by a district court in North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, earlier this week, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has served a notice on the Trinamool Congress general secretary and the party’s Lok Sabha member, Abhishek Banerjee, to collect his voice samples in relation to the case in which he has been accused of inciting violence and threatening Union Home Minister Amit Shah before the recently concluded Assembly polls.
An official from the CID of the state police personally arrived at the residence of Abhishek, also the nephew of former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, at Kalighat Road in South Kolkata, on Wednesday night and served the notice, an insider from the state police said.
The scheduled date for the collection of voice samples is June 30, and as per the court order, it will be done in the presence of a judicial magistrate and forensic experts.
Earlier this week, based on video footage of Abhishek Banerjee’s alleged statements at a pre-election rally, the CID approached the Bidhannagar Court seeking permission to collect his voice samples. On June 23, the same court granted the CID to collect his voice statements and fixed June 30 as the date for that collection.
Banerjee had earlier been questioned for six and a half hours at CID headquarters in Bhabani Bhavan, South Kolkata, earlier this month in connection with this case.
Last month, an FIR was registered against him at the Bidhannagar Cyber Crime Police Station, where he was accused of inciting violence and threatening Union Home Minister Amit Shah before the recently concluded Assembly polls.
The case was later handed over to the CID on June 11.
Banerjee is also under CID scrutiny in another case involving a mismatch in signatures of Trinamool legislators on a resolution related to appointments reserved for the opposition bench in the Assembly.
He has already been questioned twice in that matter.
With every passing day, things are getting tough for Abhishek Banerjee. On Wednesday, a single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court turned down his plea for a fast-track hearing on his petition seeking the court’s permission to travel abroad for ophthalmic treatment.
(IANS)
