A district court in North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, has granted permission to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to gather voice samples from Abhishek Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress general secretary and Lok Sabha member. This action is in relation to allegations of inciting violence and threatening Union Home Minister Amit Shah before the recent Assembly polls.
The CID sought approval from the Bidhannagar Court to obtain Banerjee’s voice samples based on video evidence of his purported statements at a pre-election rally. The judicial magistrate has scheduled the collection of these samples for June 30, with the process to be overseen by a judicial magistrate and forensic experts.
Abhishek Banerjee had previously undergone a six-and-a-half-hour interrogation at the CID headquarters in Bhabani Bhavan, South Kolkata. An FIR was filed against him at the Bidhannagar Cyber Crime Police Station last month, and the case was subsequently transferred to the CID on June 11. Banerjee is also facing CID scrutiny in another case involving discrepancies in the signatures of Trinamool legislators on a resolution concerning appointments reserved for the opposition bench in the Assembly.
In a separate matter, Abhishek Banerjee has petitioned the Calcutta High Court for permission to travel abroad for eye treatment. The Diamond Harbour MP is seeking a seven-day travel allowance for this purpose. While there are currently no legal obstacles to his overseas travel, Banerjee is involved in multiple ongoing cases and has been instructed by the court to cooperate with investigations. Therefore, he has requested the court’s authorization to seek medical treatment abroad.
Abhishek Banerjee was previously injured in an accident in October 2016 while returning to Kolkata from a party event in Murshidabad district. Sustaining severe eye injuries, he initially received treatment at various domestic hospitals before opting for medical care abroad.
