In the complaint lodged at Shakespeare Sarani Police Station in Kolkata, Kalicharan Banerjee, the OSD of Hakim, has been accused of financially duping people by claiming to be “close” to TMC national general secretary.
“We received letters from numerous people, claiming that the OSD (of Firhad Hakim) has been seeking financial favours on the pretext of helping them secure government contracts. He was using Abhishek Banerjee’s name while seeking such favours.
Subsequently, we decided to lodge a police complaint,” the office of Banerjee, considered number two in the ruling party, told PTI.
When asked, Hakim, who is also a minister in the Mamata Banerjee Cabinet, said he was not aware of the police complaint against his OSD. “I have never heard of anything like this before. If there is any complaint, then they could have given it to me. I would have enquired. I don’t know anything about this,” Hakim said.
The Opposition BJP and CPI(M), meanwhile, said that they were not surprised by the news.
Calling the complaint against Hakim’s OSD a “stale news”, BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, said that in the past too he had made allegations of embezzlement of funds against Kalicharan Banerjee.
“Kalicharan owns seven flats, from Howrah to Garia across Newtown. I told this long ago. It’s stale news. He amassed a significant fortune through illegal means, including extortion. The funds used to construct Trinamool Bhawan, the party’s headquarters, may have come from these illicit activities,” Adhikari alleged on Friday.
Calling the complaint filed by Abhishek’s team against Mayor’s OSD a ‘drama”, CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty alleged, “In TMC, everyone is an extortionist.”
“In TMC, the bigger leader you are, the more illegal property you will have. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is on top of this. Sometimes, the complainant is Firhad Hakim. Sometimes it’s Abhishek Banerjee… We have seen a lot of such drama,” the CPI(M) leader said.
Last month, Kolkata Police had arrested a man for allegedly duping a businessman by forging the letterhead of Abhishek Banerjee.
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