West Bengal CID reaches Mamata Banerjee’s residence in ‘forged signatures’ probe

Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription

The View From India Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective.

First Day First Show News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming.

Today's Cache Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day.

Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers

Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there

The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features.

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee arrives for the INDIA bloc meeting at Constitution Club of India, in New Delhi on June 8, 2026. | Photo Credit: ANI

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the West Bengal police searched the residence of former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata on Tuesday (June 9, 2026), in connection with the alleged forgery of the signatures of two Trinamool Congress MLAs.

The CID officials said that they wanted to search the premises since the 30B, Harish Chatterjee Street address is also referred to as the party office of the Trinamool Congress. After a standoff with party officials, the CID team entered the premises around 4 p.m. and carried out their search.

Former Trinamool Congress MP Subhasish Chakraborty said he could not allow the CID officials inside as both Ms. Banerjee and her nephew and party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee were not present in the house. He urged the officials to come back a day or two later when one of them would be present. However, CID officials countered, saying that they had come to search the TMC party office on the premises, and not the residence of Ms. Banerjee, and accusing Mr. Chakraborty of “obstructing the investigation”.

Why is there a rebellion in the Trinamool Congress? | Explained

The CID is investigating a letter nominating Sovandeb Chattopadhyay as the Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly, which was submitted to the Speaker on May 20. Trinamool MLAs Ritabarta Banerjee and Sandipan Saha alleged that their signatures on the letter had been forged. They were then expelled from the party.

An FIR was registered on the basis of their complaint at Kolkata’s Hare Street police station and the case was later handed over to the CID. The State agency then issued several summons to Mr. Abhishek Banerjee, who had signed the letter. However, he did not appear in person, citing health issues, and sought 15 days more to respond.

Mr. Abhishek Banerjee was supposed to appear before the CID of