KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday rejected an immediate hearing plea from Trinamool Congress leader and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee seeking permission for travel to the USA for a week to undergo eye treatment.
Abhishek had suffered a serious eye injury following an accident along the Durgapur Expressway in Hooghly district in 2016, and since then, he has been under treatment regularly.
Justice Sougata Bhattacharyya in the High Court on Wednesday said, "The matter will be heard when it comes in the list of hearings of cases following the usual process."
Abhishek has been facing a series of interrogations by the West Bengal and Central investigating agencies in cases linked to alleged signature forgery of the party MLAs in the Assembly, provocative speeches related to the ‘DJ’ music issue and the primary teachers’ recruitment scam.
His appeal to the court has created a row in Bengal politics, particularly against the backdrop when the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) under the West Bengal Police has already grilled him for hours on three separate days since June 11 at its headquarters, Bhabani Bhaban in the city.
CID officials questioned him on signature forgery cases of several party MLAs over the party's choice of Leader of Opposition in the state assembly and the ‘DJ’ music issue.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) grilled him for more than 11 hours at the CGO Complex office to explore his alleged connection to the primary teachers’ recruitment scam in the State.
In one of the speeches, Abhishek said DJ music would replace Rabindrasangeet after the May 4 election results, a comment that critics construed as a call to violence.
A case was drawn up after a man named Rajib Sarkar lodged a complaint at Baguiati police station on May 5 and later with the cybercrime department of Bidhannagar police station, alleging that the Trinamool leader delivered inflammatory, provocative, and threatening speeches.
Earlier, fearing arrest by the CID, he had moved the High Court, which granted him interim protection from coercive action in connection with the alleged signature forgery case on June 11.
While hearing the case at the High Court, Justice Kausik Chanda had directed Abhishek Banerjee to appear before the CID at its Bhabani Bhaban. The court had also granted him protection from any coercive action for three weeks.
The CID had served three notices separately to Abhishek, asking him to appear before the investigating agency. However, he did not face them, mentioning medical grounds and busy schedules, including a meeting with the Congress leadership in Delhi till 9 June.
He was brought under the scanner of the CID after serious allegations surrounding a meeting convened by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee at her Kalighat residence to discuss the party's choice for the Leader of Opposition post in the House.
Abhishek wrote the letter armed with the meeting’s resolution, signed by the party MLAs, to the speaker Rathindranath Bose, selecting Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, veteran legislator from the Ballygunj constituency in the city, as the LoP in the Trinamool legislature party.
The controversy erupted after claims surfaced that signatures of several MLAs were affixed to a related resolution copy despite their absence from the meeting, prompting an investigation into alleged forgery.
