Kolkata: The state CID on Monday intensified its probe into the high-profile assembly “signgate” scandal, sending a specialized team to the Legislative Assembly premises to collect critical evidentiary records and speak to officials.The surprise visit comes close on the heels of marathon interrogations of Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and Beleghata MLA Kunal Ghosh, with investigators detecting certain discrepancies in their statements.The CID team arrived at the assembly complex around 2 pm and went straight to the Speaker’s secretariat. Sources revealed that investigators sought to scrutinize the official copy of the party resolution that had nominated the Trinamool’s choice for the Leader of the Opposition post following the party’s recent assembly election defeat.The agency is also believed to have recorded statements from the secretary of the assembly and other senior legislative officials to verify the protocol under which the controversial document was submitted.The probe hinges on allegations that signatures of multiple TMC legislators were fraudulently forged in block letters on the resolution book to force a consensus. While senior CID officials remained tight-lipped about the precise outcome of Monday’s visit, agency insiders confirmed that the move was necessitated by “divergent answers” provided by Banerjee and Ghosh during their face-to-face questioning.“We are tracking two to three contradictions, particularly concerning the exact headcount of MLAs who physically attended the internal Trinamool meeting and the identities of those who actually signed the resolution book. The data provided by the leaders does not align with our preliminary findings,” a senior CID source disclosed.Banerjee has already been grilled twice by the agency for over 14 hours. With the CID now cross-referencing the leaders’ statements with the actual legislative logs at the Assembly, pressure is mounting on Banerjee who is due to face the CID sleuths in a separate case on Tuesday.
