Delhi Police on Monday served a notice to former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, asking her to appear as a witness in connection with a 2013 criminal case involving an alleged assault on then state Finance Minister Amit Mitra during a protest outside Banga Bhavan in New Delhi.
A Delhi Police team, accompanied by personnel from the local Kalighat Police Station, visited Banerjee’s official residence at 30B Harish Chatterjee Street in South Kolkata to deliver the notice. The document, enclosed in a white envelope, was received on her behalf by Subhasish Chakraborty.
According to sources familiar with the development, the notice asks Banerjee to travel to New Delhi at her convenience and meet the investigating officers. She has been called as a witness under Section 160 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
The case relates to an incident in April 2013, when activists of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), the student wing of the CPI(M), staged a protest outside Banga Bhavan in New Delhi. The demonstration followed the death of SFI activist Sudipta Gupta in Kolkata earlier that year.
During the protest, Amit Mitra, who was then West Bengal’s Finance Minister, was allegedly heckled and physically assaulted by demonstrators. The protest was led by then SFI General Secretary Ritabrata Banerjee, who currently serves as the Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly.
Following the incident, a formal complaint was registered at the Parliament Street Police Station on April 9, 2013.
Delhi Police has now sought Banerjee’s statement in the case, noting that she was present in the national capital alongside Mitra when the alleged assault took place.
