CID raids Mamata Banerjee's Kolkata residence

West Bengal's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) raided the Kolkata residence of Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday afternoon (June 9), conducting a search at her home at 30B Harish Chatterjee Road in connection with an alleged forgery case involving legislators' signatures.

A confrontation broke out at the entrance when party workers attempted to block investigators from entering, before the CID team eventually gained access and carried out the search.

The probe centres on a letter submitted to the Speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, proposing Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay as the leader of the opposition.

The letter, reportedly bearing the signatures of 80 MLAs and sent under Abhishek Banerjee's name, became controversial after several legislators publicly denied having signed it.

The assembly's principal secretary subsequently filed a forgery complaint, triggering the CID investigation.

On the same day, the CID also searched the office of Abhishek Banerjee — the party's general secretary and Mamata's nephew — compounding the pressure on the party leadership.

Both Mamata and Abhishek were in Delhi at the time, attending an INDIA bloc meeting and other engagements, a fact that TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh seized on in his public remarks.

He said: "Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee are in Delhi for the INDIA alliance meeting and other appointments. Despite knowing this, it is astonishing that the CID chose to raid their homes today, in their absence."

The raids were not the only blow the party absorbed on Tuesday. Senior TMC leader and former Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation chairman Sabyasachi Dutta was arrested late Monday night on extortion charges.

Adding to the sense of political turbulence, actor and TMC parliamentarian Dev attended an administrative meeting in Purba Medinipur chaired by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari — an appearance that fuelled speculation about his loyalty to the party at a time when several TMC figures have been distancing themselves from the Banerjee camp. Dev, however, moved quickly to quash the speculation.

"My love for Mamata Banerjee will last a lifetime. As long as she is alive, I am with her," Dev said.