Calcutta High Court Declines Urgent Hearing On Plea Against CID Search At Mamata Banerjee's Premises Over MLA Sign Forgery Probe

The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday declined to grant urgent listing to a petition challenging a search operation conducted by the West Bengal CID at premises associated with former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in connection with the alleged forgery of signatures of Trinamool Congress MLAs.

The matter was mentioned before Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya by Senior Advocate Kishore Datta, who alleged that the search operation was marked by serious procedural irregularities and amounted to "police excess."

Datta submitted that the search had been conducted without a search warrant and in violation of established legal safeguards.

"The search was carried out by police excess. There was no search warrant, people were detained, there were no independent witnesses," the senior counsel argued while seeking urgent intervention from the Court.

However, the Bench declined to entertain the plea on an urgent basis and directed that it be filed in the regular course.

"File it in regular course, no leave," the Court observed.

Datta then requested permission to file the matter on the following day.

"May I give tomorrow's date and file it," he submitted, to which the Court responded, "Very well."

The controversy arises amid an ongoing CID probe into allegations that signatures of several Trinamool Congress MLAs were forged. Notably, Trinamool Congress National General Secretary and MP Abhishek Banerjee is also reportedly under investigation in connection with the alleged forgery.

The CID has, however, clarified that the search was not conducted at Mamata Banerjee's residential quarters. According to the agency, the search exercise was carried out at the Trinamool Congress office situated within the residential premises, where a meeting of party MLAs had allegedly taken place, and not at the former Chief Minister's residence itself.