“Minions from IT…”, TMC claims Abhishek Banerjee’s chopper raided by Income Tax and found nothing

Chopper of TMC National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee has been raided by Income Tax officials on Sunday during the trial run at Behala flying club in Kolkata, claims TMC. This comes a day before his visit to Haldia in East Midnapore district, known as the home turf of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari. 

According to sources the chopper was searched and Banerjee’s security personnel were restrained. The Income Tax department hasn’t confirmed of any recovery from the searches as yet. “Every bag and every corner of the chopper was searched by the IT officials but they found nothing”, claimed an officer part of Abhishek Banerjee’s security detail, present during the rain and unwilling to be identified. The chopper was restricted from doing its trial run even after the raids, claimed the flying club officials. 

Abhishek Banerjee has called it an act of “desperation” on part of BJP ahead of Lok Sabha Elections slater to kick start from April 19, 2024. “Instead of removing the NIA DG and SP, Election Commission of India (ECI) and BJP chose to deploy MINIONS FROM IT to search and raid my chopper and security personnel today, resulting in NO FINDINGS. The ZAMINDARS can exert all thr might but Bengal's SPIRIT OF RESISTANCE will never waver” wrote Banerjee on his ‘X’ handle tagging the official handles of National Investigation Agency (NIA) and ECI. TMC has recently upped the ante against NIA alleging the central agency had engaged into a “conspiracy” to stoke trouble by arresting TMC election managers on false cases at the behest of BJP in order to weaken the ground organisation of the party ahead of elections. 

Abhishek Banerjee has alleged that BJP leader Jitendra Tiwari had met NIA SP Dhan Ram Singh on March 26, days ahead of NIA arresting two TMC leaders from Bhupatinagar in East Midnapore on April 06, for their alleged involvement in a 2022 blast that had claimed 3 lives. Banerjee has claimed to have CCTV footage in possession where Tiwari could be allegedly seen entering the residential complex of NIA SP in Kolkata along with an envelop. TMC has since demanded the suspension of the SP and DG. NIA SP Singh has been called to Delhi by the agency and a DIG rank officer has since been sent to the Kolkata oversee the cases.  

TMC has called the raids at Banerjee’s chopper by IT officials, a weak reaction by the central agencies to their allegations, “fearing the truth will be revealed by them with proof”, claims TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh. TMC has threatened to move to Supreme Court against the NIA and submit the CCTV footage before the apex court to substantial their allegations of nexus between BJP and the NIA.