Abhishek Banerjee's office in Diamond Harbour demolished: 'Illegal construction'

People aware of the developments said bulldozers and drilling machines were brought in to demolish portions of the building at Amtala in Diamond Harbour

Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee’s office in his Lok Sabha constituency Diamond Harbour in South 24 Parganas was demolished by the district administrations on Saturday after being tagged as an illegal construction.

Abhishek Banerjee's Diamond Harbour office demolished by district administration after being declared an illegal construction. (PTI and X/ANI)

“Notices were served to Amit Banerjee, father of Abhishek Banerjee, who is the director of Leaps and Bounds Private Limited, at least twice to appear for a hearing with all documents related to the construction of the building. No one appeared during the hearings on June 30 and July 7. Thereafter demolition was ordered,” said an official of the South 24 Parganas district administration, requesting anonymity.

Abhishek is the chief executive officer (CEO) of M/s Leaps and Bounds Private Limited and was also a director in the company from April 2012 to January 2014.

People aware of the developments said that bulldozers and drilling machines were brought in to demolish portions of the five-storey building at Amtala in Diamond Harbour. Security was intensified in the area and central forces and a large police contingent were deployed to prevent any untoward incident.

On Saturday police and district administration officials broke open the doors and entered the building. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters allegedly barged into the office and broke furniture and window panes. Some covered their faces with saffron coloured clothes and slogans of 'Jai Sri Ram' were also raised.

“This was the main office of Abhishek Banerjee. This was an illegal construction built on forcefully grabbed land. No permission was taken from anywhere for the construction. It was the nerve centre for all his illegal operations be it rigging during elections, threatening people, extortion or running syndicates to amass wealth,” Abhijit Das, BJP leader from Diamond Harbour said.

The BJP fielded Das from Diamond Harbour against Abhishek Banerjee in 2024. He, however, lost by 7,10,930 votes.

Earlier in May, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation issued notices to Leaps and Bounds Private Limited over allegations of illegal constructions in some buildings linked to the TMC MP in Kolkata.

A notice was also pasted on the walls of the ‘Shantiniketan’ building at 188A Harish Mukherjee Road which is popularly known to be the residence of Banerjee. Banerjee’s parents moved the Calcutta high court.

“This matter is already pending before the court. However, a new culture has been introduced in Bengal — the bulldozer culture since the BJP came to power. What we witnessed today was an act of vengeance and dirty, violent politics, with goonda raj on full display," said a TMC leader requesting anonymity.

"Two hours before the incident, Abhijit Das (Bobby) took to social media and announced that such a drive would be carried out. We saw BJP workers barging into the office, carrying out vandalism, and stealing belongings. What more can you expect from a party and its workers who didn’t even spare Lord Ram and looted donations from his temple? Today, in his name, they are dancing and carrying out vandalism,” he added.

However, Samit Bhattacharya, state BJP leader said, “This is an administrative issue and the BJP wouldn’t like to get into this. But as a party we don’t support illegal construction. Nobody does. A large number of illegal buildings have come up in an around Kolkata, many by filling up wetlands."

TMC writes to CJI

Abhishek said that TMC has written a letter to Chief Justice of India related to the demolition of the office. "We were called for a hearing on July 15. Our representative attended. We requested a copy of the complaint letter, based on which the ongoing proceedings were initiated. The authorities couldn't produce it. On July 18 the first and second floor were completely demolished. Along with the district administration and police, BJP workers vandalised the office. We have already sent an email to the Chief Justice of India," Banerjee told the media.

The TMC leader said that office was built on privately owned land, and TMC has all the approved plans and legal documents which it will place before the court. He also rejected that office was being used for both-capturing conspiracies. "If that were true, why could such allegations not be established during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections?" Banerjee told reporters in Kolkata.