'Even if you slit my throat ... ': TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee defiant after FIR, CID summons

NEW DELHI: Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday slammed BJP and declared that he would not be intimidated by investigative agencies after being summoned by the West Bengal CID in connection with cases registered against him.Reacting to the summons and the FIRs filed against him, Banerjee struck a defiant tone, saying, "Even if you slit my throat, you will have to take seven births to make me cower down."The West Bengal CID issued a notice directing Banerjee to appear before investigators at Bhabani Bhawan, the agency's headquarters in Kolkata, at 12 noon on June 1.Speaking to reporters after receiving the notice, Banerjee said he would consult his legal team before responding. "I am yet to see the content of the notice. I will consult with my lawyers and make an appropriate response. I will surely cooperate with the probe in whatever manner possible," he said.Banerjee further accused the authorities of deploying multiple agencies to target him and said no amount of pressure would force him to back down."Let them do whatever they want. They can do whatever they want. Understand it this way, earlier it was just ED, CBI and now it is Bengal Police and Kolkata Police too, along with KMC (Kolkata Municipal Corporation)," he said, ANI reported."There were 2-3 investigation agencies earlier and now it is 5. They think they will send 5-6 agencies after me and blackmail me into cowering down. I am not a person like that," Banerjee added.The CID served the notice to Abhishek Banerjee at his Kolkata residence after a team of officers visited multiple locations linked to TMC.Also read: Mamata Banerjee lambasts rebels with 'Girgiti' poem after Bengal poll routAccording to PTI, a five-member CID team first reached Banerjee's official residence, Shantiniketan, on Harish Mukherjee Road in south Kolkata at around 1.25 pm.As Banerjee was not present at the property, the officers informed staff that they had come to serve an official notice and waited there for nearly 30 minutes.The team was then directed to Banerjee's nearby residence on Kalighat Road. CID officials reportedly declined to hand over the notice to office staff and waited outside before personally serving the summons to the TMC MP.Banerjee acknowledged receipt of the notice, after which the officers left the premises around 2.50 pm.The summons is linked to a CID investigation into the alleged use of forged signatures of Trinamool Congress MLAs in a communication submitted to the West Bengal Assembly Secretariat backing senior TMC leader Shobhandeb Chattopadhyay for the post of Leader of the Opposition.The controversy arose after the Assembly Secretariat flagged alleged discrepancies in the signatures of some newly elected TMC legislators on a letter of support submitted on May 19. A complaint was subsequently lodged with Kolkata's Hare Street Police Station.As part of the probe, the CID has already questioned several TMC leaders and MLAs, including Nayna Banerjee, Chandranath Sinha, Kunal Ghosh and Baharul Islam.Also read: From Z-plus security to stripped surveillance: Why cops landed at Abhishek Banerjee’s residenceThe summons comes amid a series of legal challenges faced by the TMC leader in recent weeks.Earlier on Monday, a team of Kolkata Police personnel also visited Banerjee's official residence, 'Shantiniketan', located on Harish Mukherjee Road.Several officers, both in uniform and plain clothes, were seen at the premises. Neither Kolkata Police nor the Trinamool Congress officially disclosed the purpose of the visit.However, a senior police officer described it as a "routine official exercise". "There is no law-and-order issue or any special operation. It was part of a routine official exercise," the officer said.