Kolkata, 13 June

In a predawn raid certain to deepen the political faultlines in West Bengal, police personnel, accompanied by central forces, searched TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee's residence here for several hours on Saturday in pursuit of his close aide in connection with an alleged financial fraud, officials said.

The operation, led by a team from Paschim Medinipur's Salboni Police Station and assisted by Kolkata Police personnel, began at around 2 am and triggered a confrontation, with the TMC alleging "political vendetta" and BJP leaders insisting that investigators were merely following due process.

Former chief minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee rushed to Abhishek's Kalighat residence and remained there till the search operation was concluded and the police left the premises.

Police sources said the search was primarily aimed at tracing Abhishek's personal assistant Sumit Roy, who is wanted in connection with an ongoing investigation into a "financial fraud" case registered at Salboni Police Station.

According to the sources, Roy's mobile phone was last traced to Banerjee's Kalighat residence, prompting investigators to launch the operation.

The officials said the raiding police team repeatedly knocked on the doors of Abhishek's residence but received no response and was made to wait outside for nearly four hours.

The TMC alleged that the police team broke open a lock and entered the premises to search.

"They broke the lock and searched the entire house," Abhishek told reporters after the raiding team left at around 7.30am after searching the premises for nearly an hour and a half.

Asked if Roy could be traced at the premises, the TMC leader said, "You should ask that question to the police who searched my house thoroughly. I am not the spokesperson of the police."

Sources in the investigating team said Roy could not be located despite the extensive search, and the team left without making any seizures.

The premises in Kalighat's Patuapara area remained heavily guarded throughout the operation, with the deployment of central forces in the neighbourhood, while personnel from Kalighat and Bhabanipur police stations assisted the search team.

The police officers, however, declined to disclose details of the case or the evidence they were seeking.

Personnel, including women officers, participated in the search exercise. At one stage, some officers briefly stepped out of the house for consultations before resuming the search.

Sources in the police revealed that the search for Roy, who remains untraceable, is linked to the June 6 arrest of former TMC MLA and the party's ex-president of Paschim Medinipur district, Sujoy Hazra, from Kharagpur on charges of extortion and land fraud.

Dramatic scenes of locals hurling eggs at a police vehicle transporting Hazra after his arrest were witnessed.

They accused Hazra of having taken money for a government housing construction but not delivering on his promises.

Investigators claimed that they have incriminating evidence of financial transactions having taken place between Hazra and Roy in connection with the alleged fraud.

Saturday's operation came at a politically sensitive moment for Banerjee, who has found himself facing scrutiny from multiple investigating agencies over the past week.

Just two days ago, the West Bengal CID questioned him in connection with the alleged forged-signature case linked to the state assembly.

He has been summoned again on June 14 after investigators were reportedly dissatisfied with certain aspects of his responses.

The Calcutta High Court, while directing Banerjee to cooperate with the probe, had observed that no coercive action should be taken against him for two weeks.

On Friday, CID officers also visited his Kalighat residence to serve a notice in connection with a complaint lodged over certain remarks allegedly made by him.

Banerjee has been asked to appear before investigators on June 16 in that case.

The Diamond Harbour MP was also asked to appear before the Enforcement Directorate on 15 June in connection with the agency's probe into the alleged primary school recruitment irregularities.

The TMC reacted sharply to the police action.

In a brief post on X, the party said, "Political vendetta gets from bad to worse."

Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose alleged that police arrived at Banerjee's residence around 3 am and that a disaster management team was subsequently called in to break open a lock before the search began.

Claiming that the operation covered the premises from the second floor to the terrace, Ghose said the search lasted about 90 minutes and alleged that the seizure report recorded "nil".

"No evidence. No wrongdoing. Nothing," she wrote on X.

Calling the operation an instance of "political vendetta, intimidation and mental torture", Ghose alleged that leaders unwilling to submit to the BJP were being selectively targeted.

The BJP rejected the allegations, maintaining that "investigative agencies were functioning independently and that no individual was above the law".

"Mamata Banerjee and Abhioshek now belong to the past. The people have already punished them for their loot and deception by throwing them out of power. But they must also be held accountable from the Constitutional and legal point of view. The TMC's web of corruption reaches the very top, and its leaders must go through this process. No one can be spared," said BJP leader Locket Chatterjee.

The latest episode has added another layer to Bengal's turbulent political atmosphere, where legal battles, agency investigations and political confrontation have increasingly intersected post-2026 assembly polls.

For the TMC, the search has become another rallying point in its long-standing charge that opposition leaders are being subjected to selective targeting after its defeat in the assembly polls.

For investigators, it was part of an ongoing criminal probe.

But politically, the images of police and central forces entering the residence of Mamata Banerjee's heir apparent before dawn ensured that the operation resonated far beyond the confines of the case itself.