Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee was in for a surprise on Saturday as a team of cops and central security officers arrived at his doorstep in Kolkata and began a late-night search that began at 3am and lasted four hours. A video of his exchange with the reporters is now going viral, in which he can been seen reacting to questions about his assistant's whereabouts.
Officers were looking for Abhishek's personal assistant Sumit Roy, against whom a fraud case is pending. The team arrived at around 3am, allegedly broke the locks to enter Banerjee's residence and searched the house.
"I am not a representative of the investigative body. The answer will be given by those who have conducted the search," Banerjee could be heard saying in Bengali as he answered questions from reporters about his assistant's whereabouts, the viral video showed. "My entire house has been searched, seek answer from officials investigating," he added.
Who is Sumit Roy?
The search was reportedly led by a team from Paschim Medinipur's Salboni Police Station and assisted by Kolkata Police personnel who arrived at Banerjee's home at around 3am.
{{/usCountry}}The search was reportedly led by a team from Paschim Medinipur's Salboni Police Station and assisted by Kolkata Police personnel who arrived at Banerjee's home at around 3am.
{{/usCountry}}Sumit Roy, who is Abhishek's assistant, was central to this search. According to news agency PTI, he is wanted in connection with an ongoing investigation into a "financial fraud" case and his phone was last traced to Banerjee's Kalighat residence, which prompted the search.
During the search, former chief minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee rushed to Abhishek's Kalighat residence and remained there for some time.
Trinamool cries foul over search
After the search, Abhishek Banerjee alleged that the police forcibly entered his home by breaking a lock. Central forces were also deployed during the operation which began shortly before dawn and lasted till early in the morning.
Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted raids at seven places linked to TMC MLA and former minister Madan Mitra in connection with irregularities in civic recruitments.
Trinamool Congress MP Kirti Azad slammed both investigations and said: “This is the BJP's old modus operandi... They aren't interested in actually running the government. They will just keep doing these things…"
TMC leader Sagarika Ghose also criticised the search at Abhishek's residence and claimed that nothing was found in the seizure report. “No evidence. No wrongdoing. NOTHING. Just political vendetta, intimidation and mental torture,” a part of her tweet read.
Abhishek Banerjee has been in the eye of the storm for some time now. Dissent against the MP is quite visible within the TMC, with several leaders, including those close to his aunt and party supremo Mamata Banerjee, questioning his leadership.
The TMC is looking at one of its biggest internal crises ever, with strong possibility of a split as rebel MPs and MLAs have united to break away and form a separate faction.