Trinamool Congress national general secretary and Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee was summoned by Kolkata Police on Saturday for questioning over a social media post targeting Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.
According to a report by IANS, Banerjee was asked to appear at Bhabanipur Police Station in south Kolkata by 12.30 pm in connection with an FIR registered against him on May 27 over a post published on X on May 2. A senior police officer told reporters that the police wanted to question him in the case.
The FIR was registered following a complaint by Arnabkanti Das, a Bhabanipur resident, who objected to Banerjee's alleged description of the CEC as a "puppet of an anti-Bengali Gujarati gang". The complainant alleged that the remarks were derogatory towards the Gujarati community and could disturb communal harmony and national integrity.
The case was registered under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, relating to promoting enmity, inciting violence, attempting to cause public disorder, offences against the state and spreading rumours.
The complainant argued that referring to the Gujarati community as a "gang" amounted to portraying its members as criminals and could undermine the country's pluralistic culture and social harmony. He also cited Banerjee's position as a Member of Parliament, saying that his remarks were inconsistent with his constitutional responsibilities.
In a separate development, Kolkata Police registered another FIR against Banerjee at Girish Park Police Station on Friday over alleged derogatory remarks and threats against a serving Indian Police Service (IPS) officer in West Bengal.
Police personnel served a notice at Banerjee's Kalighat residence on Friday night, asking him to appear at Girish Park Police Station by noon on November 20 for questioning in that case.
(With inputs from IANS)