Kolkata Police have summoned Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary and Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee for questioning on Saturday at Bhabanipur Police Station in south Kolkata over a social media post allegedly targeting Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, news agency IANS reported on November 14.

Source: IANS via Hi India

According to the reports, Banerjee was asked to be present at the police station by 12:30 pm on Saturday. The case stems from a post he published on X on May 2, in which he allegedly made derogatory remarks about the CEC. An FIR was registered against him on May 27.

Source: Qalam Times

The FIR was registered on a complaint lodged by Arnab Kanti Das, a resident of Bhabanipur, who objected to the post. IANS reported that, according to the complaint, Banerjee allegedly described the CEC as a “puppet of an anti-Bengali Gujarati gang”, and that police booked him under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 relating to spreading hatred, inciting violence, attempting to create chaos, inciting crime against the state and spreading rumours. These are allegations in a police complaint and remain subject to investigation; a summons or an FIR does not establish guilt.

Second FIR a day earlier

The Bhabanipur summons came a day after a fresh FIR was registered against Banerjee on Friday (November 13) at Girish Park Police Station in north Kolkata, accusing him of making derogatory remarks and threatening a serving Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, IANS reported. A notice in that case was served at his Kalighat residence late on Friday evening, directing him to appear at Girish Park Police Station by 12 noon on November 20. IANS reported there was no immediate reaction from Banerjee or the TMC leadership on the fresh FIR at the time of filing that report.

Source: IANS via Hi India

Reacting to the summons developments on Saturday, West Bengal minister Dilip Ghosh criticised Banerjee while speaking to the media in Kharagpur, saying threats would no longer work and that the law should be respected, Daily Kiran reported.

Source: Daily Kiran

Banerjee, the nephew of former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, is the TMC's national general secretary and one of the party's most prominent faces in the state. What happens next will depend on his appearance before the police and the course of the two investigations.