Suvendu Adhikari, the West Bengal Leader of the Opposition, was granted protection from arrest today by the Calcutta High Court in a case concerning the murder of a security guard by a gunshot wound in 2018. According to his lawyer, this was one of three cases against him that the court delayed today.
The state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has summoned a former ally of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who switched allegiances to the BJP last year. The 50-year-old, on the other hand, did not show up for interrogation.
The court stated that he could not be arrested in any current or future proceedings without its permission. The CID is investigating whether the security personnel’s death was a suicide or someone else was involved.
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The CID summoned Mr. Adhikari on the same day that Abhishek Banerjee, a prominent politician of the state’s governing Trinamool Congress and the Chief Minister’s nephew, was detained by the Enforcement Directorate with the theft of coal from one of the state’s mines.
Yesterday, the Trinamool National General Secretary flew to New Delhi. Rujira Banerjee, who was also summoned for interrogation, has declined to travel, citing her two small children as a reason.
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Ms. Banerjee’s former Transport Minister left the Trinamool and joined the BJP in November 2020, months before the state Assembly elections. He beat the Trinamool Congress’s founder in the Nandigram seat, despite the party’s landslide victory. Meanwhile, Ms. Banerjee has disputed the results of the Nandigram polls.
