Calcutta HC seeks Bengal Police response in plea over raid at Abhishek Banerjee’s home
Kolkata, June 29 (IANS) A single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court on Monday directed the West Bengal Police to file an affidavit within four weeks in the case challenging the early morning raid and search operations at the residence of Trinamool Congress general secretary and the party’s Lok Sabha member, Abhishek Banerjee, on Kalighat Road in South Kolkata earlier this month.
The single-judge bench of Justice Saugata Bhattacharya also directed the state police to preserve all CCTV footage and audio-visual records of conversations during the raid and search operations.
At the same time, the single-judge bench directed the petitioner in the case to file a counter-affidavit within two weeks after the state police submit their affidavit before the court.
To recall, a joint team from Salboni Police Station under the West Midnapore district police, the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) and Kolkata Police conducted raid and search operations at 3 a.m. on June 13 in search of his executive assistant, Sumit Roy, who is currently absconding.
A petition was filed before the Calcutta High Court challenging the raid and search operations conducted in the wee hours and accusing the state police of resorting to excesses in the matter.
The matter came up for hearing on Monday.
Arguing on behalf of Abhishek Banerjee, who is also the nephew of former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, his counsel and former West Bengal Advocate General Kishor Datta said that the raid and search operations were conducted at his client’s residence on the basis of a complaint in which Abhishek Banerjee’s name did not figure.
“The name of Sumit Roy was there in the complaint. The raid and search operations at the client’s residence were conducted in the wee hours merely on the basis of suspicion that Sumit Roy was there. The police team reached my client’s residence at 3 a.m. and finally broke open the lock of the entrance gate with the help of state disaster management personnel,” Datta argued.
When Justice Bhattacharya questioned whether the petitioner’s counsel was objecting to the raid and search operations themselves, the latter argued that the objection was to the alleged police excesses, where the search operations were conducted without a search warrant.
He also accused the state police of misusing their authority.
In his counter-argument, the state’s Additional Advocate General Rajdeep Majumdar said the search was prompted by the apprehension that Sumit Roy might try to escape.
At the conclusion of the hearing, Justice Bhattacharya directed the state police to file an affidavit in the matter within four weeks and also directed the petitioner to file a counter-affidavit two weeks after the submission of the police affidavit.
–IANS
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