NEW DELHI: Senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Abhishek Banerjee has been served a police notice over a scuffle involving private security guards at his office and a team of police personnel and civic body officials, a police officer said on Sunday.“A notice has been served on Abhishek Banerjee in connection with the investigation. He has been asked to appear before the investigating officer on Monday. The investigation is underway, and all aspects of the incident are being examined,” the Kolkata Police officer told PTI.The notice was delivered to Abhishek Banerjee at his residence on Saturday evening. The TMC national general secretary has been asked to appear before the Shakespeare Sarani Police Station on September 1 for questioning.Three FIRs have been registered in connection with the August 27 incident. Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee, nephew of TMC supremo and former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, has been named as an accused in two cases. Other TMC leaders, including Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien and former MLA Humayun Kabir, have also been named in the FIRs.O’Brien was served a notice on Sunday.The incident occurred at Banerjee’s Camac Street office, where private security guards, supporters and some TMC leaders allegedly clashed with police and Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) officials who had arrived to dismantle an “unauthorised” billboard.O’Brien, who was present at the spot during the raid, dismissed reports of resistance by the private guards as “fake news”, claiming they were merely deployed on duty at the building’s entrance.The billboard, which carried TMC signage and was mounted on an iron structure facing the road on the building’s top floor, was dismantled by KMC personnel after police forced their way inside. It was later reinstalled by Abhishek Banerjee and other TMC leaders.
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Fourteen people have so far been arrested in connection with the incident. Police are examining CCTV footage and other evidence as part of the ongoing investigation.Meanwhile, police on Saturday registered a suo motu FIR against Mamata Banerjee for allegedly violating conditions laid down by the Calcutta high court for a foundation day event of the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP), the party’s student wing.The FIR was registered at Hastings Police Station against Banerjee and the organisers of the TMCP meeting. The development is likely to further intensify tensions between the BJP and TMC, which was voted out of power in April after 15 years in government.
