Abhishek Banerjee Named In FIR As Kolkata Cops Probe Birthday Night Clashes

Several police cases have been filed and two men have been arrested after chaos broke out in Kolkata's Kalighat during the midnight birthday celebrations of Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee.

The two men were arrested on charges of slapping a police officer on duty. The police are checking CCTV cameras from the area to establish the exact sequence of events and identify others involved in the scuffle.

Of the four first information reports (FIRs) filed with Kalighat police station, the police on their own filed two FIRs over the assault on their personnel, one of which explicitly named Banerjee.

The remaining two cases came from rival political complaints - one FIR was filed against unidentified BJP workers based on a complaint filed by Banerjee, while a counter-FIR naming Banerjee and several others was filed following a complaint by BJP workers.

The Trinamool leader has not yet given a statement on the incident.

However, former chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee, who is her nephew, held a protest alleging an attack at his Kalighat house at 2 am on Saturday. Abhishek Banerjee alleged his house and office were targeted by a group of individuals he termed "BJP goons" after two days of reconnaissance.

According to the police, clashes began between Trinamool workers, who had gathered to celebrate Abhishek Banerjee's 39th birthday, and BJP supporters between 2 am and 3.30 am.

The police have also charged the Trinamool's Diamond Harbour MP under the BNS and the Motor Vehicles Act on a separate complaint filed by a Baguiati resident, Rajiv Sarkar.

Sarkar alleged Banerjee's convoy routinely flouted road safety norms, with security personnel dangerously driving his vehicle while other guards hung precariously from the exterior of the moving car.

Many of Banerjee's security guards are frequently spotted standing on the outer footrests of his vehicle while it is in motion, the police said.

In his complaint calling for legal action, Sarkar cited Section 123 of the Motor Vehicles Act, which bans any driver or passenger from travelling while hanging onto the outside of a moving vehicle, alongside Section 184, which penalises dangerous driving.

The fresh police complaints add to a series of legal challenges confronting the Trinamool leader, who is being probed by both the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in alleged corruption cases.

His legal troubles have been aggravated by an ongoing signature mismatch probe.

Separately, the Madhya Pradesh High Court recently withdrew the interim protection granted to Banerjee in a defamation case filed by Akash Vijayvargiya, the son of BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya. Banerjee's 'Sebashray' outreach programme in the Diamond Harbour constituency has also faced corruption allegations.