Will cooperate but question others too: Senior TMC MLA on signature forgery case

Kolkata,UPDATED: Jun 20, 2026 20:16 IST

The CID on Saturday questioned senior TMC MLA Sovandeb Chattopadhyay in connection with its investigation into the alleged forgery of signatures on a letter sent to the West Bengal Assembly Speaker over the appointment of the Leader of Opposition.

The questioning is the latest step in the case, which has unfolded alongside a battle for control of the TMC legislature party after the party's defeat in the recent Assembly elections. The dispute has also led to court proceedings over the Speaker's decision on the post.

Sources said a two-member team of the state's Criminal Investigation Department visited Chattopadhyay's residence in Bhawanipur and spoke to him for more than an hour.

Speaking to reporters after the questioning, Chattopadhyay said he was ready to fully cooperate with the investigation. "I will cooperate with the probe more than 200 per cent. But those who made the allegations (of signature forgery) should also be questioned because everyone was present when the proposal was signed," the Ballygunge MLA said.

The controversy is centred on a letter submitted to Assembly Speaker Rathindra Bose by the Mamata Banerjee-led faction proposing Chattopadhyay's name for the post of Leader of Opposition. The letter carried the purported signature of TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee. The Speaker, however, declined to accept the communication after allegations surfaced that signatures on the document had been forged.

The complaint was made before the Speaker by Uluberia Purba MLA Ritabrata Banerjee and Entally MLA Sandipan Saha. Both were later expelled from the party. In a further escalation of the leadership dispute, Ritabrata Banerjee later submitted another letter claiming the support of 59 MLAs and was eventually recognised by the Speaker as the Leader of Opposition.

The state government later handed the investigation into the alleged forgery to the CID. As part of the probe, CID officers have questioned Abhishek Banerjee several times at the agency's Bhawani Bhavan headquarters and collected handwriting samples from several TMC legislators. Some MLAs have been served notices, while others have been questioned at their homes. On Friday, CID officers went to the residence of TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee to serve a notice in the case, but it could not be delivered because he was in Delhi and his family members declined to accept it, sources said.

The investigation is running alongside a legal challenge over the opposition leadership in the Assembly. Chattopadhyay had moved the Calcutta High Court against the Speaker's decision to recognise Ritabrata Banerjee as the Leader of Opposition, but a single bench did not grant any interim stay on the decision. He has since moved a division bench against that order, and the matter is likely to come up for hearing next week.

With the CID continuing its probe and the court case still pending, the dispute over the Leader of Opposition's post remains at the centre of the contest within the TMC legislature party.

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