An FIR was registered against former West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee for allegedly making provocative remarks during the last Assembly election campaign, a senior officer said on Friday.
According to police, the FIR was registered at the Hare Street Police Station on the basis of a complaint filed by Tushar Kanti Das, a resident of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Road at the Netaji Nagar Police Station on May 20. The complainant also sought legal action against Banerjee.
It was alleged that Banerjee had made a comment regarding a specific community, without naming it, where she claimed that if a particular community unites, they would lead to chaos, police said.
The case was initially registered as a “zero FIR”, and was transferred to the Hare Street Police Station as the place where the TMC supremo had allegedly made the comments comes under its jurisdiction, police said.
“The complainant claimed that even though no community was mentioned by name, the comment could disrupt communal harmony. The complainant also claimed that Banerjee’s comment was responsible for several incidents of post-poll violence and communal unrest in Kolkata and its adjacent areas. Based on this complaint, the Hare Street Police Station has taken action and registered a zero FIR,” said an officer.
The FIR has been registered under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita on charges of spreading hatred, incitement, intimidation, and disrupting public peace.
Meanwhile, a team of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Friday visited the Kalighat residence of TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee to serve a notice in connection with an investigation of an alleged provocative statement made by him during a poll rally in the state, an officer said.
The development comes a day after Abhishek was questioned by the CID at its headquarters for five and a half hours in a signature forgery case over the party’s choice of Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly.
According to sources, a complaint was filed against Abhishek at the Baguiati Police Station for allegedly making provocative remarks during the election campaign. Later, the CID took over the investigation and visited his residence to serve notice. However, the Diamond Harbour MP was not present.
Sources said he had reportedly gone to the residence of the party supremo.