Ritabrata appears before CID for interrogation in alleged rape case

Kolkata: Expelled CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member Ritabrata Banerjee on Tuesday appeared before the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for interrogation in connection with an alleged rape and cheating case, officials said.

After being summoned thrice by the state probe agency, Banerjee along with his two counsels, reached CID headquarter in Kolkata's Bhawani Bhavan on Tuesday afternoon. According to sources, investigators of CID's Protection of Women & Children (POWC) Cell is currently quizzing Banerjee and recording his statements.

CID officers interrogated him in connection with a complaint that was lodged against him by a woman alleging that he had engaged into a relationship on the pretext of marriage. In October, a resident of Balurghat, Namrata Datta had lodged the complaint against Banerjee.

Banerjee went to the CID's office at around 12.30 pm on Tuesday and the interrogation continued till 6.30 pm. Sources said that during the six-hour-long interrogation, officers of the CID's special operation group (SOG) asked him to narrate the entire incident.

Though Banerjee had claimed that he was being framed for political reason, it is learnt from sources in the CID that he told the officers on Tuesday that he knew Namrata. The complainant, who is a software engineer, had earlier said that she first came in touch with Banerjee through social networking site in 2016 when she was in Bangalore.